The forces of nature have been in clear display the last few days. My attention was drown to the new eruptions in Hawaii. The latest flows were quickly forgot when the tsunami alerts and warnings were given after the earthquake in Japan.
It was heart wrenching to watch the news reports of the earthquake, the tsunami, then the nuclear explosions. The thought of millions of people being without electricity during the winter and freezing temperatures is overwhelming.
Disasters like these really puts a perspective on my list of usual gripes. My gripes about co-workers or job assignments that make no sense seem so petty compared to the hardships millions of good people have to go through at any given time on this planet.
Support those in need and those that provide it. And be very thankful for all you have and the ease of which your days go by.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Seattle Underground
My cousin from California has been visiting over the weekend. Joanne and I picked him up at the airport Saturday afternoon and I'll be taking him back to the airport tomorrow afternoon.
Sunday we went to Seattle on the Bremerton Ferry (The Walla Walla). The Underground tour was very cool and informative. We were lucky that is was very clear and dry all day. It was cold, especially for a guy from Cal but not too cold. Yesterday we went to Northwest Trek and hung out there most of the day.
It was a fun weekend and we even had some snow today. There could be more snow tomorrow, we'll have to wait and see.
One last thought, "Do you think the Governor of Wisconsin is thinking, 'Let them eat cheese cake'"?
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Sunday we went to Seattle on the Bremerton Ferry (The Walla Walla). The Underground tour was very cool and informative. We were lucky that is was very clear and dry all day. It was cold, especially for a guy from Cal but not too cold. Yesterday we went to Northwest Trek and hung out there most of the day.
It was a fun weekend and we even had some snow today. There could be more snow tomorrow, we'll have to wait and see.
One last thought, "Do you think the Governor of Wisconsin is thinking, 'Let them eat cheese cake'"?
A picture from the Walla Walla
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Mondo Manda, not a bad idea!
Mike, you're right about cramming you fingers into them tiny little frets. I does remind me of switching back to guitar after years of banging on the bass. The guitar seemed pretty cramped like the mandolin does at this point.
The KTone finally came in the mail last night. It got stuck in bad weather coming from the East coast. I got it unpacked and gave it a once over. The workmanship and quality is pretty good for the price. The next step was to tune it and try out a few of the chords I learned.
This ended up with a 6 string Mandolin as both E strings broke when I tried to bring them up to tune. Fast forward to tonight... it is tuned up and has 8 strings again now. They are staying in tune a little longer each time I go over them again, they should settle down in a day or two. The D'Addario seems to tune and stay in tune pretty good, I might switch out the other six when I have more time.
Mandolin players spend half their time tuning their mandolin. They spend the other half of their time playing out of tune :)
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
The KTone finally came in the mail last night. It got stuck in bad weather coming from the East coast. I got it unpacked and gave it a once over. The workmanship and quality is pretty good for the price. The next step was to tune it and try out a few of the chords I learned.
This ended up with a 6 string Mandolin as both E strings broke when I tried to bring them up to tune. Fast forward to tonight... it is tuned up and has 8 strings again now. They are staying in tune a little longer each time I go over them again, they should settle down in a day or two. The D'Addario seems to tune and stay in tune pretty good, I might switch out the other six when I have more time.
Mandolin players spend half their time tuning their mandolin. They spend the other half of their time playing out of tune :)
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
No Labels - We the Purple - Facebook
It's a big toss up between adding this post and following advice from B.B. King who suggests, "When you don't have anything to say, shut up.".
That is really about all I have for tonight. I went to check out the No Labels and have been reading "We the Purple" which is a book similar to the idea behind "No Labels". And Facebook, well that might have to wait until another evening. Maybe tomorrow after practice is I don't get home too late.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
That is really about all I have for tonight. I went to check out the No Labels and have been reading "We the Purple" which is a book similar to the idea behind "No Labels". And Facebook, well that might have to wait until another evening. Maybe tomorrow after practice is I don't get home too late.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Superbowl Sunday!
Go Steelers, Go Packers! Go points!
Joanne has 9 for the Packers and 3 for the Steelers. My numbers are 0 for Packers and 1 for Steelers. My side bet is that Joanne has better odds at making her numbers!
Isn't it great that there are folks that add fun to our lives?
The score card is strictly for fun, the house doesn't make a dime because all the money in gets paid out. A friend of mine asked if I wanted to get in on the board. I hadn't done that in a very long time so I figured I'd get a square for me and a square for Joanne.
If it were up to me, there wouldn't be a board available, because I never think of doing them. These fun loving folks in our lives remember to do things like this, take the time to collect the money, pull the numbers, pass the numbers out, then pass the money out after the game.
This makes watching the game fun. Years back I was just a few minutes from winning the 4th quarter final score. Joanne and I were on a bowling league so we had to listen to the very end of the game on the way to the alley. It was hard to drive an listen to a last minute interception returned for a touch down with less than a minute to go. That was the closest I came to winning on a quarter, it was the year the Bucs went to the big show. Don't remember the year exactly.
These friends that do these score cards are the same friends that throw parties or organize gatherings. The are good friends to have because the selflessly strive to make life fun for those around them.
OK, this is my excuse for ducking out of church early of it starts to go long! This afternoon is one of the annual gatherings with one of my friends that goes all out to throw a party for his friends. We can't let him down and miss kick-off. The last time is missed the opening kick was the 2006 Superbowl (I was taking the motorcycle safety riding class that weekend).
Enjoy the game and I hope the commercials live up to the expectations this year!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Joanne has 9 for the Packers and 3 for the Steelers. My numbers are 0 for Packers and 1 for Steelers. My side bet is that Joanne has better odds at making her numbers!
Isn't it great that there are folks that add fun to our lives?
The score card is strictly for fun, the house doesn't make a dime because all the money in gets paid out. A friend of mine asked if I wanted to get in on the board. I hadn't done that in a very long time so I figured I'd get a square for me and a square for Joanne.
If it were up to me, there wouldn't be a board available, because I never think of doing them. These fun loving folks in our lives remember to do things like this, take the time to collect the money, pull the numbers, pass the numbers out, then pass the money out after the game.
This makes watching the game fun. Years back I was just a few minutes from winning the 4th quarter final score. Joanne and I were on a bowling league so we had to listen to the very end of the game on the way to the alley. It was hard to drive an listen to a last minute interception returned for a touch down with less than a minute to go. That was the closest I came to winning on a quarter, it was the year the Bucs went to the big show. Don't remember the year exactly.
These friends that do these score cards are the same friends that throw parties or organize gatherings. The are good friends to have because the selflessly strive to make life fun for those around them.
OK, this is my excuse for ducking out of church early of it starts to go long! This afternoon is one of the annual gatherings with one of my friends that goes all out to throw a party for his friends. We can't let him down and miss kick-off. The last time is missed the opening kick was the 2006 Superbowl (I was taking the motorcycle safety riding class that weekend).
Enjoy the game and I hope the commercials live up to the expectations this year!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Guitarolin - I don't do waiting very well.
You got to like the information age. It is so, well, informational. Thanks to tracking software I can follow the mandolin from New York to Washington. It is currently in IL (experiencing bad weather, is the comment).
Thanks for the info Mike, it got me seeing thinks upside down or is it backwards?
Not being one know for patience... I wanted to get a jump on playing the mandolin. The goal was to learn a few chords and even read a few familiar songs to get a head start. So, to get started I decided to turn the old six string into a four string guitar/mandolin.
Here's how I went about it yesterday:
This worked out pretty easy to reverse too since I'll need my acoustic for church tomorrow! This was a fun way to get some time in on mandolin tuning but the distance between the frets on the guitar is much more of a stretch than the mandolin. I don't think I'll put it back to a guitarolin after church tomorrow. It was a fun but I can wait a little bit longer and stick with strumming my six string.
There were other thoughts I had wanted to add to this post but once again I have forgotten them. One of these days I will learn to write things down. It's hard to since most of the thoughts come to me in the shower but I could keep a pad handy.
I just remembered that I was going to mention my current "web development" project at work. It involves being able to take credit card payments from our customers online. This is a first for the Health Care Authority. I don't agree with the design and the fee but the coding itself has been fun. Part of the project is building in a bunch of automation for the accounting staff/system. It feels good to be productive with this project when I've had to re-teach myself a lot of the syntax and environment.
I'd call myself a good web developer at this point, not great, or an expert, but I can figure out how to get things done. It's like learning the mandolin, my goal is to be a good mandolin player. Not great, not the best, good enough to make good sounding music.
It's funny how we will strive to be the best or great at something. The passion should be with the activity, not the status of your ability. This is something I was I had learned to focus on much earlier (yes, when I was younger). Life is better when you just do something because you are passionate about it rather then being recognized for being "great" at it.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Thanks for the info Mike, it got me seeing thinks upside down or is it backwards?
Not being one know for patience... I wanted to get a jump on playing the mandolin. The goal was to learn a few chords and even read a few familiar songs to get a head start. So, to get started I decided to turn the old six string into a four string guitar/mandolin.
Here's how I went about it yesterday:
- Remove the low and high E strings (the outer two strings)
- Tune the A down to a G and leave the D alone
- Tune the B up to an E
This worked out pretty easy to reverse too since I'll need my acoustic for church tomorrow! This was a fun way to get some time in on mandolin tuning but the distance between the frets on the guitar is much more of a stretch than the mandolin. I don't think I'll put it back to a guitarolin after church tomorrow. It was a fun but I can wait a little bit longer and stick with strumming my six string.
There were other thoughts I had wanted to add to this post but once again I have forgotten them. One of these days I will learn to write things down. It's hard to since most of the thoughts come to me in the shower but I could keep a pad handy.
I just remembered that I was going to mention my current "web development" project at work. It involves being able to take credit card payments from our customers online. This is a first for the Health Care Authority. I don't agree with the design and the fee but the coding itself has been fun. Part of the project is building in a bunch of automation for the accounting staff/system. It feels good to be productive with this project when I've had to re-teach myself a lot of the syntax and environment.
I'd call myself a good web developer at this point, not great, or an expert, but I can figure out how to get things done. It's like learning the mandolin, my goal is to be a good mandolin player. Not great, not the best, good enough to make good sounding music.
It's funny how we will strive to be the best or great at something. The passion should be with the activity, not the status of your ability. This is something I was I had learned to focus on much earlier (yes, when I was younger). Life is better when you just do something because you are passionate about it rather then being recognized for being "great" at it.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Finding dream web development job - Step II
This seems like such a logical next step that I'm surprised that I didn't think of it sooner. I decided it was time to stop the bouncing around between PHP, ASP, and ASP.net. My head can only hold so much, Javascript, VBScript, XML, HTML, ADO, SQL, etc..
The best step I can take is to focus on what I enjoy learning the most, that is the next big step, bigger and more productive than endless false leads on web searches.
So, I took the "Big Next Step" yesterday. I ordered a mandolin off of e-Bay. Now I can focus on learning the reverse of EADG since the tuning I'll use on the mandolin s GDAE.
I wonder if that will help me play the guitar upside easier?
Biking season is almost ready to start. Actually, a lot of riders have already started. I'm holding off on hitting the open road until March 1st (the cold weather does not play well with all the surgical steel in my body). Feb 28th I'll go for a shave and a haircut. I quit shaving Nov 1st and haven't had a haircut either, good thing is was pretty short from the last cut.
I'll keep hacking on the mainframe, making music, and riding for miles until something in the way of web development comes along. This might spark new interest in updating "The Goal Farm" and my other web site.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
The best step I can take is to focus on what I enjoy learning the most, that is the next big step, bigger and more productive than endless false leads on web searches.
So, I took the "Big Next Step" yesterday. I ordered a mandolin off of e-Bay. Now I can focus on learning the reverse of EADG since the tuning I'll use on the mandolin s GDAE.
I wonder if that will help me play the guitar upside easier?
Biking season is almost ready to start. Actually, a lot of riders have already started. I'm holding off on hitting the open road until March 1st (the cold weather does not play well with all the surgical steel in my body). Feb 28th I'll go for a shave and a haircut. I quit shaving Nov 1st and haven't had a haircut either, good thing is was pretty short from the last cut.
I'll keep hacking on the mainframe, making music, and riding for miles until something in the way of web development comes along. This might spark new interest in updating "The Goal Farm" and my other web site.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The best things in life are free
My job hunting adventure just hasn't taken off like I thought it would. It was more fun hiking around Pack Forest than looking through a bunch of "gotcha" type links promising a bright future as a web developer. Today, bowling with our friends, lunch with my Joanne and parents was much more interesting than going through search results.
Today was a great day hanging out with friends and family. Next up is a little guitar playing then maybe a movie on the tube (I'm still digesting lunch and starting to get sleepy).
I took good advice and partied like a "Folk Star"!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Today was a great day hanging out with friends and family. Next up is a little guitar playing then maybe a movie on the tube (I'm still digesting lunch and starting to get sleepy).
I took good advice and partied like a "Folk Star"!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Ups and Downs
Dear Dairy...
OK, I never got around to starting my "job" search yesterday. Let me take a minute to submit my first Google search to see what what kind of results I get.
This is the search text "work at home web developer". The result, About 63,600,000 results (0.18 seconds).
Wow, there is a ton of opportunity out there! I feel crazy for not doing this search earlier. OK, I'll jump ahead to page 50 and see what is out there.
The first link is, a web developer job in Winnipeg at "WorkerBee.tv". OK, now it is time to update my resume and get myself out there.
What does this have to do with the title?
Not much actually. Ups and Downs is in reverence to a hike we took today. It was a relatively easy 5 1/3 mile hike through parts of the Pack Forest. Joanne and I have done this one before. The last time was in much warmer and drier weather. It was cooler and wetter this time but pretty nice all together. This was the first "Tapestry" hike. Attended by Joanne, Leanne, Tom, Greg, and me. It was a good challenge to get out on slippery and uneven ground. My body is feeling the effects of this excursion. The distance wasn't a big factor, it was straying upright and on both feet that made this a challenge.
The point is, facing ups and downs in life makes you stronger in the long run. So, now I'll go and rest.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
OK, I never got around to starting my "job" search yesterday. Let me take a minute to submit my first Google search to see what what kind of results I get.
This is the search text "work at home web developer". The result, About 63,600,000 results (0.18 seconds).
Wow, there is a ton of opportunity out there! I feel crazy for not doing this search earlier. OK, I'll jump ahead to page 50 and see what is out there.
The first link is, a web developer job in Winnipeg at "WorkerBee.tv". OK, now it is time to update my resume and get myself out there.
What does this have to do with the title?
Not much actually. Ups and Downs is in reverence to a hike we took today. It was a relatively easy 5 1/3 mile hike through parts of the Pack Forest. Joanne and I have done this one before. The last time was in much warmer and drier weather. It was cooler and wetter this time but pretty nice all together. This was the first "Tapestry" hike. Attended by Joanne, Leanne, Tom, Greg, and me. It was a good challenge to get out on slippery and uneven ground. My body is feeling the effects of this excursion. The distance wasn't a big factor, it was straying upright and on both feet that made this a challenge.
The point is, facing ups and downs in life makes you stronger in the long run. So, now I'll go and rest.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Spam and eggs
Blogger added a new "spam filter" for comments left on blogs. So far even the spammers haven't found me which is nice. The goal farm used to get spam entries added but it usually took a while for spammers to find the page. It seemed that they found it easier each time after I changed the add page.
Knock wood, but the goal farm hasn't had a visit and successful spam attach by the robots since being put up a while back. It helps that the pages get changed, I think.
OK, I'm off to get my physical therapy in for today then I might be back to report on my "job search" efforts.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Knock wood, but the goal farm hasn't had a visit and successful spam attach by the robots since being put up a while back. It helps that the pages get changed, I think.
OK, I'm off to get my physical therapy in for today then I might be back to report on my "job search" efforts.
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Let the weekend begin!
The weekend just started for Joanne and me. Today is "Furlough Friday" because we are on temporary lay-off tomorrow. This is part of the budget cuts implemented last year to save the state some money.
I came home to test my access to the credit card vendor we are working with to be able to let members pay their premium online. Access to the test sight still isn't working but I was able to test making a payment using production. Heck, shouldn't that mean the project is over?
If it were only that simple... but we still have to test all the automation around making the payment. The transaction is the easy part, it is all the stuff to automate the accounting process that is the bulk of the project.
OK, here I am, turning this thing into a diary again. I'll have to come back when I have something serious to post about. I've been toying with the idea of blogging about my quest to find a job as a web developer. It might not be very interesting and do so might make me less attractive to a new employer. I'll mull it over this weekend to see if this still seems like a good idea.
Happy Weekend!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
I came home to test my access to the credit card vendor we are working with to be able to let members pay their premium online. Access to the test sight still isn't working but I was able to test making a payment using production. Heck, shouldn't that mean the project is over?
If it were only that simple... but we still have to test all the automation around making the payment. The transaction is the easy part, it is all the stuff to automate the accounting process that is the bulk of the project.
OK, here I am, turning this thing into a diary again. I'll have to come back when I have something serious to post about. I've been toying with the idea of blogging about my quest to find a job as a web developer. It might not be very interesting and do so might make me less attractive to a new employer. I'll mull it over this weekend to see if this still seems like a good idea.
Happy Weekend!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Not much to say today.
It isn't my intention to have this turn into a diary but it was a busy day at work and ideas for a post went in and out of my head all day long. After work it was practice at the church then home to do my PT exercises. Joanne was good about using the bike on the trainer but I haven't been in the saddle in a long time. I'll have to get back at it since riding season is fast approaching.
My boss rode to work today... he has the bicycle bug big time!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
My boss rode to work today... he has the bicycle bug big time!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
It has been a while!
You are right Mike, it has been quite some time since I've put out a post!
I'm drawing a blank as to why Bob Blah Blogs has been neglected but I'm not doing anything new. In fact, I've decided to drop the idea of maintaining the "Trinity" website. The main reason is that I'm only going to keep one domain name instead of three. Google is kind enough to provide this blog and they do a good job with the software.
Come to think of it, I've been doing more web development at work so I've getting getting my "net" fix at work. We're adding the ability to pay insurance premiums online using a credit/debit card. It's been a cool project (the design is lame but the work is fun). The only thing that remains to be seen is how much longer Basic Health will be around. We're going live with e-Payment in February but the legislature wants us to cut back about 2/3 of our members by March 1st then end the program all together on April 30th.
The experience has been fun. It's weird to work on an ASP project since it is taking a step backwards but ASP is working out fine once I started to remember I wasn't using .NET.
My quest to do more web development or web related stuff should pick back up again. Thanks for checking in Mike!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
I'm drawing a blank as to why Bob Blah Blogs has been neglected but I'm not doing anything new. In fact, I've decided to drop the idea of maintaining the "Trinity" website. The main reason is that I'm only going to keep one domain name instead of three. Google is kind enough to provide this blog and they do a good job with the software.
Come to think of it, I've been doing more web development at work so I've getting getting my "net" fix at work. We're adding the ability to pay insurance premiums online using a credit/debit card. It's been a cool project (the design is lame but the work is fun). The only thing that remains to be seen is how much longer Basic Health will be around. We're going live with e-Payment in February but the legislature wants us to cut back about 2/3 of our members by March 1st then end the program all together on April 30th.
The experience has been fun. It's weird to work on an ASP project since it is taking a step backwards but ASP is working out fine once I started to remember I wasn't using .NET.
My quest to do more web development or web related stuff should pick back up again. Thanks for checking in Mike!
Take a minute to visit The Goal Farm too!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
2011 is off to a great start!
I wish everyone the best for 2011. This is the first post for the new year and it will be brief. I really didn't make many resolutions other than trying to be better organized. Joanne and I started the new year by taking down the Christmas decorations (Joanne) and cleaning out old paper work and organizing the "office" (Duane). It is amazing how fast the stack of stuff to shred grows. Tomorrow I'll need to go to the recycle for sure!
Happy New Year!
Take a minute to visit Old iSkool and The Goal Farm too!
I am sticking with this hands-free data-entry device and still would like someone to volunteer to edit this blog. I'm doing the best I can but it's hard to catch my mistakes and all the times the software doesn't understand me.
I wish everyone the best for 2011. This is the first post for the new year and it will be brief. I really didn't make many resolutions other than trying to be better organized. Joanne and I started the new year by taking down the Christmas decorations (Joanne) and cleaning out old paper work and organizing the "office" (Duane). It is amazing how fast the stack of stuff to shred grows. Tomorrow I'll need to go to the recycle for sure!
Take a minute to visit Old iSkool and The Goal Farm too!
I am sticking with this hands-free data-entry device and still would like someone to volunteer to edit this blog. I'm doing the best I can but it's hard to catch my mistakes and all the times the software doesn't understand me.
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