tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230345402008-11-05T16:29:55.917-08:00Random ThoughtsIf I'm thinking it, I'll write about it.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-5943910681189369652008-08-28T12:28:00.000-07:002008-08-28T12:53:09.650-07:00Yikes. It has been a while.On the work front. Things are going really well at the stealth start up I work for. I am having fun.
I think I have an original subtheme for my office. At least I've never seen any one do it. I have every flavor of Altoids that come in the normal rectangular tin.
PeppermintCinnamonSpearmint
WintergreenCreme de MentheGingerLiquoriceChocolate dipped peppermint
Chocolate dipped Cinnamon
Chocolate Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-32572551789542743402008-06-29T19:03:00.000-07:002008-06-29T19:18:51.994-07:00ARRL Field Day 2008Note: I was really going a little nuts with CW when I wrote my last post. It can be very frustrating.
I was at the field day for Foot Hills Amateur Radio Society. I worked the GET-ON-THE-AIR (GOTA) station. With my lousy hearing, I think the station captain Ron was getting a bit frustrated with me. But I made about 30 contacts over the 3 hours or so I worked the station over the 2 days.
I Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-18214721485192018362008-06-10T23:35:00.000-07:002008-06-10T23:58:24.571-07:00Why?I am sitting at my desk tonight trying to listen to morse code. Then I thought WHY? I blog I twitter I IM, I use the slayer app on facebook. Do I really need another semi-anonymous method of communication? Klingon might be more popular with people my age.
The only real open forums of communication in Ham radio are though nets and contests. I am never going to contest. I watched it. I'd Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-53384823936441114692008-06-08T08:37:00.000-07:002008-06-08T09:08:14.458-07:00I Earned My Amateur ExtraI did it. I crammed well. I spent the entire week studying. http://www.hamtestonline.com is the ticket. It so worth the $50. I spent 34 hours on hamtestonline and about another 8 hours reading.
I missed one on my General and 6 on my Extra.
Now that I've passed the tests, it is time to go back and learn the materials. I am very good with practical application, and can explain what I am Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-23490361320148420652008-05-24T01:08:00.000-07:002008-05-24T01:14:30.810-07:00Hams on TwitterLooks like I am finding a population of Ham Radio Operators on Twitter. If any Hams use twitter, use any of the following to get noticed. Use either "#CQCQ" or "#HAMR".
I am personally tracking ARRL, CQCQ and HAMR.
With the demographic of twitter, I might eat my words from a previous post. Hopefully some are Makers and we can do something good to draw attention at the Maker Faire in San Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-30232433845677794112008-05-21T23:46:00.000-07:002008-05-21T23:48:59.245-07:00I have my call signI am KI6QNZ. I am tuned to Palo Alto,ca repeater N6NFI 145.230 most of the time. Sometimes 442.900 in San Jose.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-51007598947182817792008-05-18T14:26:00.000-07:002008-05-18T15:06:43.629-07:00A dying breedIt seems people are leaving amateur radio and this world faster than they are entering this hobby. I bought the May and June 2008 copy of QST, the main magazine for the American Radio Relay League, has a page called silent keys. It is the list of ARRL member who have died in the last month. The 2 month sample shows about 200 per month are leaving us. This matches what saw at the Ham RadioMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-31304458098727039252008-05-18T14:14:00.000-07:002008-05-18T21:08:05.030-07:00Balcony antenae mountI passed my Technician exam. 35 out of 35. I should have my call sign between Wednesday and Friday this week.
One thing I've found is that being in my office, the small rubber duck antennae does not work. So the guys recommended a mobile magnetic mount antennae. I get both 2DB gain at 2M, and I can place it on the balcony rail.
They did not sell a bracket to mount it. Since I live in a Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-18461774594452939932008-05-13T23:13:00.000-07:002008-05-13T23:39:11.692-07:00Becoming a HamWhile I was at the maker faire, the ARRL guys convinced me that I should get an amateur radio license. When an emergency hits, it will be working. Cell service is taken down and used for emergency use only. Land line can be knocked out for a few days. But amateur radio will be available. I looked into it and found it was a simple read a book and pass a 35 question multiple choice test. I'll Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-28205430628035453152008-05-02T21:50:00.001-07:002008-05-02T22:04:46.870-07:00A Phase has ended. Take a break.Today was my last day at Webroot. I have 2 weeks to relax and get ready for the next job. This week I'll be bopping around. Makers Faire this weekend. I hope they have free WiFi. otherwise, I'll be using Jott to post updates on Twitter, http://twitter.com/mpechner, and I'll be posting pictures on flickr.
Then Monday Geek out some more at Community One. I'm supposed to get to go to "the" Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-52424996418509218412008-05-02T21:50:00.000-07:002008-05-02T21:50:18.266-07:00Perl Tutorial: never directly exe a commandSmall tip. Many times, you don't just execute a command. You build a command line. Always set that to a variable. Mostly so that you can print it, or examine it in the debugger before you run the command.
When running a command, you have 4 ways of doing it.
Using open(), backticks, system() and fork/exec. Truthfully, I have never tested the mechanisms for performance. So I do not know if oneMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-18046362668152025782008-04-17T22:40:00.000-07:002008-04-17T20:00:52.327-07:00Perl Tutorial: Don't name a variable i, y or jI worked with a guy named Dean back in 89-91 at Dupont that taught me a really simple trick. Most people use the variable names i, y or j for simple counters ( damn Fortran). I don't know about emacs, but in vi, a search for 'i' is painful. But searching for "ii" is much less painful.
My counters are now always 2 letters for this reason.
So if you are going to use simple non-descriptive Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-64931526281248424982008-04-16T20:53:00.000-07:002008-04-16T20:58:16.926-07:00Moleskine Cahier NotebooksI carry the small cahier in my back pocket all times. It is great for quick notes. Ok, mostly honey do lists.
I found one trick to it surviving a few months in my back pocket. Take a piece of heavy packing tape reinforce the binding with it.
Because of my use, I wish the last pages where not perforated. I keep 1-2 index cards in the pocket for that.
This was a quick one.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-52306109339312331052008-04-13T22:49:00.000-07:002008-04-13T23:07:06.710-07:00Perl tutorial : usage() and here dcumentsI tend to write many Perl utilities. Some are just a few hundred lines. But the user needs to know how to use it. As is usual, written documentation is not well maintained and rarely read. But if the default behavior of a application is to print a small man page when there is an invalid parameter, then you have useful and used documentation.
I make this a feature of everything I expect to be Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-82797199953638365432008-04-10T21:18:00.000-07:002008-11-05T16:29:55.929-08:00Perl Tutorial: Function PointersIn C the function pointer is how to passing functions around. In Perl using an ampersand in front of a string is treated an a function call.
sub foo { print "called foo\n"; }
our $functname = "foo";
&{$funcname}();
Using this technique, I was able to override functions based on the product I was building.
For the current default product I has a series of calls to perform a build. Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-13839899809600709642008-04-09T21:45:00.000-07:002008-04-09T21:41:09.298-07:00Perl TutorialsI've been doing some heavy Perl coding for over 5 years now. I think my most challenging was a build script I inherited. When I started, there was one copy of the script for each branch and there was no error checking.
This means bugs in one had to be fixed in 2-3 other places. Also the build rarely ran to successful completion.
When I left 3 years later, there was one script. Not only was Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-17309807730669977552008-04-08T07:37:00.000-07:002008-04-08T08:34:50.463-07:00Am I a Rockstar Software Engineer?I just saw a blog on Read Write Web titled "Top 10 Traits of a Rockstar Software Engineer"Loves To CodeGets Things DoneContinuously Refactors CodeUses Design PatternsWrites TestsLeverages Existing CodeFocuses on UsabilityWrites Maintainable CodeCan Code in Any LanguageKnows Basic Computer ScienceAm I a rockstar software engineer?
I love to code, I love to play with computers. I've always said I Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-78274103802058475772008-04-08T00:05:00.000-07:002008-04-08T00:26:45.732-07:00Google App Engine - First AppOK, I was one of the first 10,000 people to sight up for Google App Engine.
I do not know if I'll be allowed, but I want to write a digg tool. Since Digg does not let you search your history, I think I'll write a tool.
I'll either find an api to feed the dugg stories to del.icio.us or Google bookmarks allowing your to add comments and tags. Or to keep a local DB of comments and tags to store Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-11267869160771173752008-04-05T22:08:00.000-07:002008-04-05T22:03:50.752-07:00Oy Vey I am writing .net codeI have this manual task I am stuck doing at work. Gathering the result a manual as well. But I am trying to automate it. I am using perfmon to track performance of certain processes. I have perfmon writing this to csv files.
I manually grab the entries from each of the result files to create a summary worksheet. I also graph certain columns, then create a summary worksheet of the graphed Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-12350134357566497582008-04-04T12:10:00.000-07:002008-04-04T12:54:14.096-07:00Work verus Self Tought Programming ExperienceWhen I interview someone and they have lots buzzwords, I tend to ask them to tie the buzzword to a job listed on the resume. Many times half the items where in school or they read a book.
School is fine for a kid with a couple of years of experience. But if you are working for more than a couple of years, pull it off your resume.
Today, "read a book" is still not good. But there are advantages Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-72545936772683444012008-03-31T21:29:00.000-07:002008-04-01T16:07:25.669-07:00Too Much To Learn
I am reading "The Ruby Programming Language" by David Flanagan and Yukibiro Matsumoto. My friend Ed seem enamored with Rails. My friend's 12 yo son, a future MIT media lab researcher, also like Rails. My friend at cafepress.com says Ruby is becoming popular there. So, I am learning Ruby and Rails.
I've decided that since I hate interviewing, that I'd just pick a few problems and code them inMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-64373579270981131082008-03-30T10:30:00.000-07:002008-04-08T21:00:42.041-07:00I don't get facebookI don't get facebook. I have a profile, I have about 30 friends. I joined a few groups and added a some applications. I joined mostly because I both my nephews are on it. I wanted to try and have a better connection with them.
The groups are no less useful than any other forum. One good post and 50 others that are a waste of time and energy to read.
The one app I use is the slayer app. Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-69128157462486038252008-03-29T18:24:00.000-07:002008-03-29T18:19:21.081-07:00I tend to want the perfect item when I can arrange it. When I decide I want something, I conceive what I think to be the perfect one. A couple of years ago these hand cranked emergency radios started coming out. Or at least I started to notice them. I've been though the 89 earthquake. Bad snow storms. A couple overnight power outages. A radio does come in handy.
The strange thing about Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-32592303557303075272008-03-26T22:54:00.000-07:002008-03-26T22:49:51.939-07:00One guys way to create play lists
I find creating playlists for my mp3 player a tedious task. I only do this a few times a year, but I spend 1-2 hours creating a play list. I hate being in the car or on a plane and find I screwed up and have to skip a song I chose.
My playlist creation method is as follows:
Add all possible genres to the play list.Remove all artists you know does not fit the Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23034540.post-66747293884342943952008-03-14T22:03:00.000-07:002008-03-14T22:11:13.975-07:00I need to find a new service, or a new way to find music for my mp3 player. I was using Yahoo music service. But they are killing the service. I never liked the yahoo music software. I was completely blown away when they tossed Music match for the horribly buggy embedded browser based application.
One of the features I loved about music match was it caused me to click links to discover new Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846269898790010412noreply@blogger.com0