Geek Speak :)

Its that time of year again !

Steve@code-geek.net — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:58:00 GMT

Time to invite friends over to get drunk and blow things up. The moonbounce was a big hit last year, so it is coming back. The pinball machines will be dusted off. Cigars will be broken out. Everyone should come to have fun and enjoy good company. If folks would take a second to let us know your coming .. that would be great.

Folks keep asking what they should bring. My first answer is 'a cheery disposition, a willingness for conversation with strangers, and a strong stomache for explosions.' If your very insistant on needing to bring more, a dessert you are famous for, or really really love and want to share is always a good idea. We have 'food' covered.

July 5th, [the day after] has now been designated 'paintball decompression day' several gentlemen who will be in town plan on going to let off some steam so to speak. Anyone interested should give us a heads up.

Florida's mistake gives us a great quote at least.

Steve@code-geek.net — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:51:00 GMT

When the state of Florida, where my niece and nephiew go to school, decided to make 'creationism' a scientific theory - I just stared at my screen in amazement. Shortly later, this quote popped up on slashdot as a rebuttal to someone screaming how creationism is more spiritually inspiring:

"Why, yes, O'Brien, according to our best evidence we did descend from apes - more precisely, we and modern apes descended from a common, ape-like ancestor. I for one am proud of how far our species has developed, how far up from the muck we've come, how far towards grace we've climbed; and I hope that our umptity-great grandchildren will be as far above us as we are above the Australopithecines. My opponent the Biblical literalist, on the other hand, seems to hold that we're all the fallen result of incestuous inbreeding from a single original pair of idiots dumb enough to be fooled by a talking snake. I've got to say I find the scientific account not only more rational, but orders of magnitude more inspiring."

That needs to be on a t-shirt or something.

Pedaling no where fast.

Steve@code-geek.net — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:30:00 GMT

Today, my wife packed up the boy, hustled him into the car and drove to her folk’s house. Her father is getting surgery on Wednesday, and she wanted to be there with our kid to distract him. She told me I could stay home if I wanted to. [Read:: "Since I know your company is supposed to sign a deal for series-A funding on Tuesday you might as well stay home, since you will just be doing work anyways."] It’s a critical time, and while I miss her and my kid dearly, it’s a critical difference between our financial future being 'average American' or 'what private school should Vince go to'. So I stayed here, with good intentions of only working a bit, then getting some other household stuff done. Yeah .. right.

I'm not sure when I became a work-aholic. Don't get me wrong, I've always had a work ethic. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty - stop laughing dad - and do work. Once when I was a teenager, I asked my grandmother for money because I was broke. I hated myself for months after that. I can always think of things I would rather do *THAN* work, but lately I've been up to my eyeballs in it, and treading water trying to keep my head up. Ten hours turns to twelve, which migrates into fourteen, then eighteen hours. Maybe more, most nights I barely remember stumbling up into bed, dreading the alarm that I know will start beeping in a meager three or four hours.

It’s possible that I am more conscious of my efforts because they are *MY* efforts. I'm in a position to guide aspects of this company, especially being the guy who BUILT the whole previous incarnation of the product we are busting ass to get out to the public. It’s humbling and exciting at the same time. For the first time since I started my own retail location in 1994 - which I sold in 1996 - I have the challenge before me of *building* my company from the ground up.

Maybe it’s because the rest of the executive team trusts me. They Explicitly trust me, they don't question my actions, at least not often, well .. at least not the RATIONAL actions. *grin* They trust that I will get my tasks done. They trust that my choices are the best for the company, and made with that in mind. Its a lot of responsibility, and if there was one thing my father passed on to me effortlessly, it was that bearing responsibility is something that a man is expected to do.

Who knows. All the above text is just a setup anyways. I gave you the recent background story of my life so you all will understand how big of a deal it was today when I left the house, and tasks unfinished for no other reason than to go to the local sporting goods store to buy a bicycle.

Part of the stress that’s been following me for the past two years has been a physical one. Working long hours doesn't help your physical conditioning. A car accident in 1994 that caused permanent spinal damage on top of that certainly doesn't help. My trim 25 had turned into a thin-ish 30, which then migrated into a getting-pretty-tubby 35. I'm out of shape, out of condition, and sick all the time.

In December, I became fed up. I started lifting light weights. Come January I felt good enough to make it a point to set 30-40 mins a day aside 5 times a week to do free weight training. Knowing I can put work totally out of my head for 40 mins out of the day has turned into a godsend. When the kid and the wife are asleep, I hit the weights and just turn my head off. Its me vs. myself, and I'm a pretty harsh judge of failure.

Back to the bike. After 30 days of pushing lumps of iron around, I can already see progress. I can also see that 3 years of frozen candy bars, Ice cream, and 2-liters of Coke-a-Cola have done me a fair amount of injustice. I'm not fat, but I have some. Its an unwelcome guest in my torso, and I decided that its been staying too long on my good graces alone. Everyone knows that dense muscle burns more calories per day than flab. Weight lifting has also boosted my metabolism back up. By the end of the day .. I am *hungry* .. which is an unusual thing for me. So - using the 'punish yourself for eating candy bars' theory, I decided that the BEST way to remove my unwelcome guest was to do more (any) cardio.

Last summer, fatty that I am, I tried to start running again. I was never GOOD at running when I was younger and in decent health, I was good at swimming. Although .. Baltimore summers are NOT New England summers .. running here past April is almost LIKE swimming. Since I don't have a pool handy, and I can't run well, the bicycle seemed the next best idea. I've been thinking about one for a while, much longer than the last month - because my son will be old enough to ride one soon. [How cool is that] I intend to ride with him, and to do that .. I needed a bike anyways.

So I left the house at 6:00 .. leaving work behind and set off to Dicks Sporting Goods - who were having an inventory clearance sale on bike equipment. I bought a bike, and a fluid trainer (like a treadmill for bikes) and brought them home. Took 10 mins to set it up, then I hopped on for 25 mins. Heart rate up means calories are burning. Lots of folks I know hate riding a bike indoors, but to me - that was 25 mins that *all* I had to worry about was making my legs go around in circles, and breathing.

I may be pedaling fast and going nowhere, but I am certainly getting something done.

Score one for Steve's mental health.

Not quite the Langoliers

Steve@code-geek.net — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:34:00 GMT

I had a surreal euphony this evening. I was sitting in Logan airport, and suddenly realized that in the past seven days, I have been in four cities: Las Vegas, Hartford, Boston and Baltimore.

Traveling via the magical tin cans called ‘airplanes’, can be weird when you do a great deal of it in a short time. I was sitting in Logan airport, looking around, and I saw most of the stereotypical archetypes of today’s air traveler:

The Concerned Businessman: This gentleman has a briefcase, a cell phone, and no checked luggage. He may or may not have an oversized ‘wheeling’ piece of luggage which he will attempt to pass off as a carry on bag. He will be reading the Wall Street Journal, typing on his laptop, or otherwise engaged on said previously mentioned cell phone, normally at a loud volume. He will be dressed in khaki with a button down shirt at the very least, with older members of this species will ruffle their plumage in a sports jacket or full suit.

The Scruffy Student: Predominately male, this traveler will be wearing jeans [Ragged at the cuff], some form of sandal, a t-shirt, and possibly an anorak. They will commonly be sitting on the floor, listening to an I-pod or watching a movie on their laptop (without headphones). Occasionally they will be playing a PSP or Game boy, but often distain that as ‘for kids’. Carryon will consist of laptop bag, and usually a student’s backpack.

The High Maintenance Bitch: This species travels alone, by choice of course. They want you to notice them, and in fact, calculate most of their actions to cause that reaction. Nails (both hand and foot) are manicured, and shoes – designer of course – are worn to display them. Jeans or pants, are tight, almost into the Camel Display range - again with the designer logo properly displayed. Hair is immaculate; makeup is from MAC, the purse Elizabeth Arden. The younger examples will be wearing Paris Hilton 70’s retro glasses while displaying a bitchy pout at all times. The older members of this breed with forgo the shades, instead choosing to accent their Botox treatments with heavy jewelry display – mostly diamonds.

The Post Adolescent Girls: Occasionally traveling with, but not near the Nuclear (Reactive) Family [below], these girls tend to be in groups of two or three, they emulate the H.M.B, in their clothing and accessories, but they do not have the polish and carriage of the High Maintenance Bitch. They have a tendency to cluster and giggle, while stealing glances at the author, which makes him slightly nervous, or feel slightly lecherous. Carry on bags tend to be make-up cases and larger ‘beach sized’ hand bags stuffed with goods. They tend to be oblivious to the world around them, and move at their own speed – especially when boarding a plane or stowing luggage in an overhead bin.

The Nuclear (Reactive) Family: The nuclear reactive family is slightly endangered by nature. They tend to be seen occasionally, and mostly during daytime hours. The size and reaction time of this beast, precludes them appearing in any given area in large numbers. The nuclear reactive family earns its name from both its explosive nature, and its fast moving particles. It is generally comprised of several of the following :

The Immobile Child: Smaller in physical height, but average in girth, this species sits, and stays sitting. New spotters will often mistake the small devices they stare into as part of their actual anatomy, but they are in fact usually small electronic devices such as video game systems or entertainment jukeboxes. They normally ignore their surroundings totally, a survival trait for sure considering the rest of their herd.

The Mobile Child: Sometimes a separate being, sometimes another form of the Immobile Child, the Mobile child is its polar opposite. This little creature can *NOT* sit still. It bounds and cavorts all over the terminal, knocking over luggage and occasionally people with abandon. The species is apparently deaf, as it can not heed the bellows of the Frustrated Father, nor the pitiful mewling of the Burned out Mother. Seems to try to communicate in whining tones often.

The Frustrated Father: This poor breed can often be seen staring at its pack mates in disbelief. Its eyes are often a goggle, and it tends to speak in loud, single syllable outbursts, punctuated with a resounding slap or grumble. Alternating its aggressive stance between Immobile or Mobile child, and the Burned out Mother – it can often be seen chastising both for either doing or not doing too much.

The Burned out Mother: Always a female, this being often sits in place, with a glazed look upon its face. Sometimes making a brief attempt to control the mobile child, or placate the Frustrated Father, but normally adopting a posture of ambivalence. Will often stare other members of its pack unit down if they ‘go too far’, but otherwise is willing to just ignore them, hoping they go away.

Viva Las Vegas

Steve@code-geek.net — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:36:00 GMT

So I'm in Las Vegas on business, exhausted, in a totally different time zone, missing my wife and kid. Whats a guy to do? Smoke a cuban cigar in a casino of course, and gamble while you are there.

I played some wierd game called Pai-Gone Poker, which involved getting 7 cards, making two hands out of them (with wierd rules I had to pick up going along) and beating the dealer on both of them. [If you did, you get 2X your bet - which was $10 minimum] if you only beat on one hand, you 'push' - ie .. no win no loss.

After about three hours of this game :
1) My chips no longer seemed like money.
2) I had a decent idea of how to play the game
3) I felt that it was fun, and I was entertained
4) I was up $5.

Thats a lot of playing, ups and downs on hands - to come out ahead $5. But I knew I was way too tired to play real cards. Even at $2/$4 blinds.

I proved this, because I went back to my room thinking 'I'll just read a chapter or two until I get tired' and woke up an hour later, faces on glasses, glasses on book, book on bed.

I mean, who falls asleep READING ??!

Its that time of year again ..

Steve@code-geek.net — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:51:00 GMT

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 8714475

Damn friggen hard drive

Steve@code-geek.net — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:39:00 GMT

They say trouble always happens in threes, so I am waiting for the last shoe to drop.
At work I lost a hard drive in a four drive RAID, rendering the array useless.

At home, literally on my trip back from picking up the broken RAID, I lost a storage drive on my personal computer, with a boatload of MP3 and 'already processed' photos that I had not printed out yet.

When you add the fact that 'Davey's State Fair Fudge' doesn't seem to have a website, the world can be cruel, cruel, cruel.

The Forth of July is Coming - RSVP here

Steve@code-geek.net — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:50:00 GMT

PLEASE RSVP by June 24th .. or go hungrey and thirsty.

Its that time of year again, time to drink, smoke cigars, eat Andy Nelson's BBQ and blow shit up. For the last two years, Big Charlie has half heartedly attempted to 'remove' our mailbox from .. err .. being our mailbox. This year I have the ammunition for him to do the job right. [Really we are just tired of our mail being waterlogged evertime it rains, due to the numerous holes blown in it.]

Here are the details for this year : (I'm going to try to make this more presentable shortly)

The party will be held Here
starting 5:00 ish on Saturday July 7th, 2007

There will be a previously unannounced activity. The P.A.T. (Potato Arterilly Team) will be toting along a small calibre potato gun for your projetile launching pleasure, this thing LOOKS small, but it can shoot a spud at least 400-500 feet.

Any out of state'ers .. please let us know if you need crash space. Some can always be found. If your creeped out about staying in stranger's houses, there are also accomidations nearby. I think there is even a fairly nice bed and breakfast down the road .. not a REAL breakfast I'm sure .. but hey.

You should be able to leave a comment below, RSVP-ing.
Like always, we might forget people, or you might just want to bring someone. Just let us know ahead of time so we have enough food. Likewise, PLEASE don't friggen wait till 4:30 on Saturday to say 'we cant make it' when you know as soon as you read this that you are not coming. I don't mind if life gets ya .. we just have some habitual 'last second cancelations' as friends. *grin*

There is a decent selection of cigars for those who wish to indulge. First time or '4th of July only' smokers can ask a few folks here who might point you in the right direction .. its only once a year after all.

As we have recently started throwing 'kid friendly' events .. something to do with having a kid. Christa has rented a 'Moon-Bounce' .. please .. if we invite you .. and you have children .. don't feel you need to leave them with a sitter on our account.

No new pinball tables this year. The Adams family is still not done, because I am a lazy slug.

If you need to bring something, bring a dessert. If you have something you like, or are famous for .. thats the ticket. We will be getting the same sized keg as last year, which seemed to be plenty.

Eventually there will be a list here of names, more for me to keep track than anything :P Maybe some photos or something .. for now .. its a place to get my thoughts together.

The Walk for Mark Whittier (no pun intended.)

Steve@code-geek.net — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 00:07:00 GMT

First off, here is the link : http://www.firstgiving.com/markwhittier

If you are so inclined, please go there and chip in a few bucks.

Mark Whittier was a great guy. He made me laugh, he had a horrible beard, we played stupid role playing games together with other friends. He was there for me with support and love when one of those friends died. Ironic, that soon afterwards, I would get a call from my sister asking if I was going to Mark's wake. [Long and very weird story made short - she knows his uncle very well.]

He loved Hall and Oats, Rush and Yes. He sat behind me during the SATs, even though we didn't go to the same high school. On holidays, everyone would get together at Mark's house after we did the obligatory family stuff and just hang out. He was THAT kind of guy - where you could just do that. He was a passionate man, he loved life, he loved people, and he could convince a rock that it was actually a bird given enough time. Charismatic is not the word. He had a peaceful way of talking - even when he was disagreeing with you. Sometimes to this day, I catch myself emulating it when I want to really get my point across to someone.

He wrote me a letter once, while I was in college, addressed to Steven Walk M.D. with the M.D. circled and crossed out ala Ghost Busters. Four pages of messy cursive, with ink blots. I lost that letter after he died, and haven't forgiven myself yet.

More than anything, as a true example of who Mark was, he convinced me to date his sister. She was mischievous, beautiful, and younger than me. I loved her very much (still do, always will.) and even when our relationship got as 'intense' and 'crazy' as every teenager's will, he never once told me he regretted suggesting it.

Mark Whittier was a man who died early, from a stupid assed disease that people just didn't know about. It was treatable even then, just hard to diagnose. He was good people. He *IS* still missed, and worth honoring. Take a min and look at the above website, even if you don't care or can not afford to donate funds, maybe you finding out about Wilson's disease might see you mention it to someone, who mentions it to someone, who mentions it to a doctor who find it in a patient and saves their life.

That is really all he would have wanted you to do anyway.

Almost Blinking ...

Steve@code-geek.net — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:20:00 GMT

With a little more tinkering, I got the code fairly close to a 'double blink' with the servo. [With the beginnings of serial out as well, I might take a little stab at a windows program to read what the pic is sending out and update an image on the screen or something .. the beginnings of a controll program.

Since I have done a lot of talking about stuff, with out much concrete examples, I decided the otherday to start pasting up code. That way I can not only show others, but have some place to go find it if i lose my project :P

So, here is the 'blink' routine, which is written for the PIC 16F874-A

'****************************************************************
'* Name    : Futaba s3003 RC Servo Test 'Blink-Blink
'* Author : Steven Ivan Walk
'* Notice : Freely given from www.Code-Geek.com
'*          :
'* Date    : 4/3/2007
'* Version : 1.1
'* Notes   : PIC 16F874-A,
'*          : Pin 20 = Servo Control Out
'*          : Pin 21 = LED indicator Out
'*          : Pin 40 = Serial Communication Out
'*          : 4.00 hz Crystal
'****************************************************************
DEFINE OSC 4
start:
    high portd.2
    pulseWidth var byte
    ' set up constants with the minimum and maximum pulsewidths
    minPulse CON 50
    maxPulse CON 100
    ' set up a constant with the time between pulses:
    refreshPeriod CON 20
    looper var word
    outerlooper var word
    ' set an initial pulsewidth:
    pulseWidth = minPulse

main:
for outerlooper = 1 to 2
    'take the output pin low so we can pulse it high
    Low PORTd.1
    ' pulse the pin
    for looper = 1 to 12
        PulsOut PORTd.1, pulseWidth
        ' pause for as long as needed:
        Serout2 portb.7, 16468, [DEC pulsewidth,10,13]
        Pause refreshPeriod
    next

    Low PORTd.1
    ' pulse the pin
    for looper = 1 to 12
        PulsOut PORTd.1, maxpulse
        ' pause for as long as needed:
        Serout2 portb.7, 16468, [DEC maxpulse,10,13]
        Pause refreshPeriod
    Next
    pause 250
Next
pause 2000
Serout2 portb.7, 16468, ["looping",10,13]
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