Tech – AllisonYax.com

An Experiment of Sorts

Jenn’s computer has been acting up, so we looked at replacing it but $999 for a new or even refurbished MacBook is not in the cards right now. We came upon the idea of an iPad, but she wasn’t sure she could live with just that. So, I got an iPad mini (32GB) and gave her my MacBook for now. Mine is 2 years newer than hers, but still 5 years old or so. It is temporary, I am sure we will get a new laptop in another year or two, but should work for now.

Shofar, I am ok with just the iPad. I have gone back to the computer a few times for goofy websites that just won’t work (namely Hulu, as I don’t see paying for Hulu plus just for Warehouse 13), and for resyncing a few items, but almost completely iPad for about 2 weeks now.

For saving files (I didn’t have all that many) I went with a mix of Evernote for PDFs and other read-only documents and Dropbox for anything I may need to edit. This may change to Dropbox only eventually. There is nothing wrong with Evernote, I just wonder if it may be easier to have everything in one place. I have read of many that swear by having both though, so am giving it a try.

I do not have an office app yet, but have been looking. I am waiting to see if LibreOffice comes to the rescue or if the rumors of Apple giving away iWork come true. I did by Grand Theft Auto III though (priorities, you know), but have not played enough for a review.

I got a case from someone at work, but not sure I like the bulk it adds. I had a case on my iPhone 4, but it ended up scratching the phone when dirt got caught between the case and phone. After that, I have been caseless on my iPhone 5. I have a feeling my iPad will end up the same, perhaps with a sleeve for travel though.

In other news, I took and passed my amateur radio exam last month, and have the call sign KD8VHX. Jenn was awesome and bought me a radio, 2 meter and 70cm bands. That gets me 10 or so miles range. It is a low cost option for now to see if I actually use it and if its worth spending for a HF radio with worldwide range (which are several hundred to a few thousand dollars!).

Jenn is going to Vegas with her mom and sister, on my birthday. I will make sure she makes it up to me later.

I think that’s about it for now, later all.

BREAKING UPDATE: Just noticed after posing, this is post 600 (in WordPress, it is probably a bit over that in post count).

Untitled 8

Uptime, and Job?

So, the great debate on my computer has returned. There is a security update out that I have been ignoring for a week now, but with a current uptime of 28 days 1 hour and 16 minutes, I am hesitant to install because I don’t want to restart. You may remember about a year ago I reached an uptime of 21 days 8 hours. I will let you know the final record when i decide to restart.

I was going to mention it last time, but didn’t, but decided I will now. I may have a job. I am at about 99% sure. I applied for work study at Delta and got a referral for a custodial/maintenance position at the YMCA. I went in to fill out the application and have an interview Thursday, and it seems all is set. They even went through my schedule to figure out when I can work. So, I am figuring I will find out Monday for sure, but like I said I am 99% on it right now. It is only $6.50 an hour, but no taxes are taken out because it is considered financial aid. If I get it, I can add a work category to the blog maybe.

OK, I am off to watch some TV, finish homework, and go to bed. See you all later.

nick

Radioluminescence

Tritium-phosphor lighting, and Movies.

Isn’t that a fun word? Say it, Radioluminescence. See, told you so. I am doing a bit of a report on it for manufacturing. We have to pick a product and do a report on the manufacturing processes required for it. I decided on making radioluminescent exit signs, powered by glass tubes coated with a phosphorescent and filled with tritium. The tritium which is a heavy form of hydrogen having 2 neutrons rather than none, decays into helium-3, releasing an electron.

1 proton + 2 neutrons -> 2 protons +1 neutron + 1 electron

That electron strikes the phosphorescent creating a flash of light, in the same way the electron beam in your Tv or monitor fires electrons at your screen, which is also coated with a phosphorescent. The beta particles are mostly absorbed by the phosphorescent, and those that are not are either absorbed by the glass or reflected by it until they are eventually absorbed, releasing no radiation outside the glass tube. By placing a few of these into a housing and butting a cut-out with the letters EXIT on it over the face, you have yourself a lighted exit sign that requires no battery backup, wiring, light bulbs, or any other maintenance whatsoever, and can last from anywhere between 10 and 20 years. Yes, there are some associated risks like vial breakage and gas release, but tritium is actually the safest of all radioactive isotopes, and the beta particles emitted cannot pass through skin and any gas inhaled is passed through with your urine, and not absorbed into your bone marrow. Also, since it is still hydrogen, the gas dissipates in the air very quickly, and there is rather little in each vial anyway. Very cool stuff.

Also, i watched the Jerk today. Very cool movie, very funny. If you have never seen it, do yourself a favor and do so. It is on TV semi-often, or you can just rent it.

Other movies seen recently include Fantastic 4 (good, must do sequel, as there was maybe too much intro plot, and not enough save-the-world plot), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (good), and Elektra (not so good). Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is sitting here too, since jenn fell asleep and missed half of it last time. I liked it, so we get to watch again. Also a very good movie if you haven’t seen.

OK, I guess that is all. Go back about your merry lives till I decided to honor you with my presence again.

nick

Finally!

Post count, “Alpina”, Links, Editing, Oprah, and Folding.

Some quick announcements.

This is post 330.

The word “Alpina” has been removed form all posts, and exists only in this one. They have all been changed to the correct spelling of “Alpena”.

All links to pages on the old site (homepage.mac.com/nslyax/…) have been either removed to changed to point to the same page on this site (hooji.nfshost.com/…).

All 296 old blogs have been edited, and as far as I know, have the correct dates. Oddly, all the ones mis-dated to 12/31/1969 @4:49pm were from December 2003 or 2004. Anyway though, it’s finally done, and only took 89 days.

After 16 years of asking her, Dave Letterman has finally convinced Oprah to appear on his show, airing December 1st at around 11:35.

I finished my F@H unit for 241 more points, for 3045 points total.

That is all.

Clarification on the Poll

Stuff about the current poll (possible domain name)

I have pretty well decided that my domain name will be hooji, but my top level domain (TLD) is still in question. My options currently would be anything but a .com, as hooji.com is in use until June 2006, but may become available after that. So, the poll has most of my possible choices, but the full list is .com, .net, .us, .info, .name, and .ws. There are others, but they don’t really fit. Actually, these don’t all fit, as .com is supposed to be for companies, .net for ISPs, and .info for sites that provide reputable and useful information. So, that leaves .us, which is a country code TLD for, well, the US, .name, for people’s names I suppose, and .ws, the country code for Western Samoa, but more often used as a short for website. So then, we come down to other factors, like price. .com costs $7.17 a year, .net, .org, and .info are $7.43, .us and .biz a mere $5.95, .name $7.22, and .ws $8.45. .us and .biz are actually $6.35, but are on sale apparently, and .com, .net, .org, and .name have an additional $.25 a year reg fee that the others do not. Beyond price, is availability, as I said, all are available but .com, which may or may not come available in June 2006. If I wait for it and it doesn’t, I will need to either wait another year, or just choose a different one. So, all this put together, it seems to me that /us would be my best bet, as its designated use is correct for me (actually, its the only one, since I am not a buziness, non-profit organization, ISP, company, live is Western Samoa, provide much useful info, or plan on using my name as the domain). Also, it is cheaper than most of the rest. But, just the same, I am asking for your opinion, since I honestly wouldn’t mind going for .net, and a .com is always the coolest choice, I’m just nervous of waiting and it turning out for nothing.

So, thats a “short” explanation of the poll.

If you want to choose other on the poll, or would rather see a different domain than hooji, voice that opinion in the comments for this post.

Happy Birthday Scott!

Scott, Counter, Poll, BBQ, and Clocks.

Jenn and I were driving down Wilder and I said “Ohh, we could go see Scott”, so we did. We talked for a bit about laser guided temperature probes, but then his pizza arrived so we left. Just an hour ago though, when I came home, I was greeted by iCal notifying me It’s Scott’s Birthday! I can’t believe I forgot. If you asked me what day his birthday was, I would tell you it’s today, but I just didn’t remember. So, sorry Scott. Happy Birthday.

After 72 hits from the Ask Jeeves robot in 2 days, I decided to turn off counting for robots. So, my counter will slow way down now, but its for the best. I thought it was going up pretty quick, I am at 914 after less than 3 months, but old blog took over 9 months to get that far.

I am, for the time being anyway, giving up on writing a poll. I finally did find one that works fairly well, and think I am going to stick with it. I managed to get as far as taking a vote from a form, writing it to a file, and telling you what your vote was. Reading from the file was next, but graphing is what daunted me, as well as writing in a format that was easily read from. Searching strings for specific text has always been one of my weaker points in programing.

Today we had Famous Dave’s Barbecue. Not bad at all, though a bit pricey. Jenn Chris and I went, and I think I would like to return sometime.

That would seem to be about it. No, the newer poll isn’t turned on yet, but soon. And remember to change clocks tonight.

nick

Why does a chicken coupe have two doors?
Because if it had four doors, it would be a chicken sedan!

Happy Fall

Fall, Site, School, F@H, and River of Time.

Fall is my favorite season. It’s cool out, all the trees change to cool colors (technically, yellow, orange, and red are warm colors, but you get it, right?). The air smells good (yes, even the sugar beet plant, I can smell the sweetness inside there somewhere), the last of the produce comes ripe, including the wonderful squash. It’s all just so nice. I need to go out camping in it. Maybe in 2 weeks. I love fall.

I am a little bothered that I haven’t done much here lately, but I have been busy with school and homework, so at least I wasn’t just being lazy. I need to update some webpages, work on the gallery, and fix more old blogs. At least I changed the theme. Not now though. Maybe later tonight.

Speaking of the site, Apple updated .Mac. See, long ago, .Mac was called iTools, and was free. Then, evil spammers started using the service (and Apple saw a chance for profit) and it had it’s name switched and a $99/year fee applied. So, on the day this happened, many people all signed up at once. Now, each year in September, all these people fret and complain that they, 70%-ish of the .Mac subscribers, used to get the service free, and that Apple better upgrade the service if they want them to stay members. So, Apple does. And, being September, they just did. From the original 100MB, to last years 250, and now 1GB of space, along with a few other things. Now, granted, GMail gives you 2GB, but it’s just for email, .Mac lets you use it as a remote disk. So that’s cool, but I don’t need 1GB, nor do I have $99. If there was a $20 100MB and it came with PHP and MySQL so I could keep WordPress (which I vastly prefer over iBlog) I would consider it. But, since that didn’t happen, Apple will be 1 more member short come next Saturday.

School is OK. I had a Pre-Calc test Wednesday, so no homework for the weekend, woohoo. I have a major, and a plan, and it excites me. I need to talk to a counselor at Ferris though I think, or maybe one of the counselors at Delta could help me, I don’t know.

I am running Folding@Home again. Only as a screensaver though, not the full background app. I haven’t completed a work unit yet though, after like 3 or 4 days of running it.

River of Time is this weekend. You should all go, because it’s cool. It’s another good part about fall.

Not sure what else.

I guess that’s it.

Yeah, that’s it.

Enjoy the fall.

Backyard Blues

Backyard, Oddly popular, Reformat, Wikipedia, and Move.

Well, my Uncle is back, arrived this morning, and he isn’t happy. The back entrance has not gone as well as it should, so today we tore off the week old roof and are fixing all the problems we have had. Scott, Todd G, Tim, My Uncle, and I were all on it, then my Dad came and we got ready to do fencing tomorrow. Oh, it will be fun.

For whatever reason, over the past few weeks one of my pages has become WAY too popular. It is titled “I am Bored”, and has moved up to #4 on a Yahoo search for that phrase, out of over 37,500,000 pages. The strangest thing is, it’s a post from January 2004, but wasn’t popular at all till about a month ago. I am considering changing the name, but maybe not.

I reformatted and reinstalled OS X Thursday night. It had bugs in it from some things I had been doing, so I felt it needed it. I was backing up everything to CDs anyway, so I had most of the hard part done (I backup less often than I should, but more than I used to, before my 7600 died).

Check out this Wikipedia article on .coms, including the list of 75 oldest still operating ones. I really like Wikipedia, you should browse around.

So, after contemplation, I have come up with September 1st as a likely moving date, for 3 reasons:

1) It is over 3 weeks away, plenty of time to work stuff out, and let everyone know.

2) It means 300th entry goes in new blog, presuming my normal schedule and 1 new poll before then.

3) You may remember my last move, 2 years ago Sept 3rd, hence repeating the saga of moving at the onset of September (hopefully I not moving again in 2 more years).

Also, yes, I have decided, and the new site is already on it’s way. Link will be in next post.

nick

You don’t have any mail! Our servers are feeling unloved.

Decisions Decisions

It’s really long folks, be careful.

Well, let’s see.

I have been thinking about moving. No, not my person, but my blog / site. I have reasons for staying, reasons for leaving, reasons against what I have now, and reasons for what I want to have. I even have a poll for you to help me decide. So, let’s get started, shall we?

First and foremost, is cost. My .Mac subscription is nice, I get an email address, 250MB of space, a cool automatic web page builder, free copy of Virex, Back-Up space and software, and some other stuff. Problem is it costs me $99 a year. Other problem is it’s a mac, there are no viruses to protect against, and I make my own web pages. So we are down to backup, server space, and email. Well, free email accounts are easy to get, I have a Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail, Excite, Netscape, Delta, and probably more somewhere, and can get another in about 2 minutes. Backup is nice, but I seldom take anything from the server, just put backups to it. I use my iPod as a hard drive, and CDs all the time to back stuff up, and that’s what I actually retrieve from. The one thing I would miss most, is that I can access my bookmarks anywhere, just go to the site, click a link, and I have a window with all my bookmarks right there, on any computer. Yahoo is making something like this available though, so I might be OK.

So, Server space. I found Nearly Free Speech.net. They charge $1 per gigabyte of data stored per month, and $0.01 per megabyte of data transfered. That means my 5.4MB of monthly transfer (an estimate, but I think is pretty close), and 25MB of data will cost me about $0.26/month, or $3.06 per year. Thats almost 97% off! Even if I went WAY up, from 300 to 3000 visits a month, I would only be at $3.63 a year. Or, if my site grew (which it always does, but this is extreme) from about 25MB to 250MB, it would take me to $30.06. Now, as you can see, space will be my concern, but thats still only about a 3rd of what I pay now, and for the same amount of space. I would need to put 700MB on the server to match what I pay now. Sounds like a deal, huh?

So, next issue is iBlog. Yeah, it was better than Blogger, but it has it’s issues. For one, I kinda settled for iBlog. My .Mac account doesn’t allow php, which is what most blogware uses. That’s why I need a FreeFind search bar, a SiteMeter counter, and a Haloscan comment system. Good php blogware has this either built in, or available as php apps that I can add to the server, rather than relying on some other guys server. (By the way, php is a scripting language for servers, it’s similar HTML or JavaScript, just different, and more powerful.) Next, is the fact that since I started with iBlog, what, almost 2 years ago now (Sept 1, 2003), I have been promised a version 2, with all these new features. Yet, here I am with v. 1.4.3, because 1.4.4 is too buggy. Nice.

Over the time I have had iBlog, I have looked at alternatives, like BlogWaveStudio, Tangelo, and RapidWeaver, but they are all still .Mac, no php, need other companies and more usernames and more reliance on other servers for comments and counters type Blogware. But now, no, if I am going to save myself a heapload of money and move to a server, and it supports php, why not look at GOOD Blogware, POWERFUL Blogware. Yes, that’s what I shall do.

My first instinct was for the Blogware I wanted 2 years ago, MovableType. Now, back then, MT was free, and was a good choice. But since then, WordPress has come along and matured. It’s open source, free (yes, I know, I can get MT free, but I get no support, and I may need it), and very customizable IF I learn php, which I probably will.

So, I can move to a server that will cost me less, and lets me keep iBlog or move to a more powerful Blogware, add my own service apps like a wicked cool tracker that kicks what I have now’s ass, and yet I am hesitating? I have my reasons.

First of all, it means a new address. That means I need to let all of you, and all those that used to read the blog know that I moved, meaning a big top-entry post, and emails, and such and such. Then, I come to the hard part. If I switch Blogware, I loose my old posts until I redo them all. I did this once, when I moved from Blogger, but I only had 4 months worth then, now I have 26 months to convert. Plus, all comments would be lost. This means paying $10 to Haloscan for Premium membership, exporting all my old comments, and retyping them as you into the newly transfered post, making sure they all go to the right post etc… Is it worth saving $97 a year? Yeah, probably.

Then, though, that new address thing hit me. Yeay, I would have a cool address like nslyax.nfshost.com or something equally no better than what I have now. What if I wanted something actually cool though? Not just sarcastically cool, but actually geek cool, my own domain. Yes, at $3ish a year, I could afford a domain, and it would only be another $15.75 a year for registration and hosting. That means you could go to blog.hooji.net (hooji.com was taken, but has expired, but was then bought by advertisers that just have redirects on it, and will be available late 2006, but I don’t want to wait) and view the blog. Now that’s cool.

So, I have till October 1st to decide (I think) as that is when my .Mac expires. It would certainly but a lot of work. I may just move iblog to the new server, but that still means comment transferring, and whenever I moved to WordPress I would need to retransfer. I may switch to WP and leave the domain alone for a while. I don’t know. Leave me your opinion, and i will think it all over.

Addendum:

In the 2 days I have thought it over (it was really wracking my brain Wednesday afternoon, I couldn’t wait) I think I have came to the conclusion that with a $5 minimum, I wouldn’t loose much by at least trying it out. No domain or anything for a while, just a trial run. Still though, let me know in the poll, comments, whatever.

nick

It’s conjugal visit day, and you know how I like doing a chick in the can.

Blog-Digidy-Blog

Uhh, Widgets, Toy, Uncle, and Backyard.

Is this anything special? I don’t think so, so it shall be general. This is 205th general, and 265th overall. That means over 77% are general posts. Wow.

One of the coolest features of OS X 10.4 is a new program called Dashboard, which allows you to put “widgets” on your desktop, mini apps that you can bring up and hide away with the touch of a key. Now, you can also get widgets buy buying Konfabulator, but that costs $$, and you can’t use all the new Dashboard widgets. Well, a new app called Amnesty is now out, and it’s free, and it uses Dashboard widgets. I have an issue with it though, you can’t press F12 to hide the widgets, and you don’t get the Apple OS X widgets, which are some of the best. Oh well, it’s not $20 for Konfabulator, and it’s not $69 for Tiger.

I have a new toy now, got it a few hours ago. I nice new Leatherman tool. The Kick. It came with the leather sheath though, and I want the nylon combo sheath, which also holds my Mini Mag Lite, which makes it cooler. Oh well, later.

My Uncle John is in town for my Aunt Jane’s funeral (my other Uncle John’s wife).

We laid our concrete yesterday morning, and lifted the shed up onto some 6x6s so we can slide is onto the slab on Thursday. We are still unsure of the patio, since the back entrance is so screwed up. I don’t know what’s going on half the time.

OK, that seems like it.

See you Wednesday.

nick

I don’t care if you’re the queen of England.
I am the Queen of England!
And I said I don’t care!