sucky games

I'm sick of stupid games. if get about 10x more bored than I currently am (which could happen) maybe I'll get an engine on devmaster.net and entertain myself.

maybe vterrain.org will help with modeling the hikes and motorcycling i've done. that could be fun.

gps tools for DEMS and STMS 3dlinks.com

motard

stupid stuff to do to an xr650. I use to hate the pavement, but after about 10k miles from around town, commuting and the last trip to alaska i'm starting to get a nack for it. the big problem is deciding what kinda bike I want for the next trip.

options:
1-1.5)1100 or 1150gs BMW
2) some street bike
3) convert the xr650L to more street worthness and leave it sit where it stops in alaska

people thought I was stupid with option #3 but given my desire to reamain not poor #3 is looking more and more interseting. i'm sure the riders I go with would dis own me... that could be a problem if the bike does stop.

credit cards

I found this linked from one of the news sources I read. If i'm bored I may watch it and see what it has to say. credit (and the protection of information) has been an interest.

World Wind

I found World Wind on sourceforge.net. it seems it may be just the tool i've been looking for to render earth elevation models (including SRTM). should be fun to play with. I hope it allows me to overlay tracks and it'd be super awesome if It would allow little flyby movies, but thats probably a bit hopeful.

mt. St. Helens

vlookup

I continue to be amazed by the power of a modern spreadsheet. during some random surfing I ran across a tutorial for open office that talks about Vlookup and gives and example of application.

millions

after running through some misc. stuff on the net, we stumbled across Millions an english film that was well.. different. We very much enjoyed the photography, as well as the music. the plot line was sincere and family values based for a change. but check out what this IMDB reviewer had to say about the director

Millions reinforces the fact that Danny Boyle cannot be pigeonholed as a director. One does not expect to see the director of acclaimed drug abuse and zombie movies come out with such wholesome entertainment.

hasbro projector

here it talks about a 300$ projector targeted at kids...

just MLS

I'm not so sure the money i'm paying to sell my house is worth it. in an attempt to see exactly what it takes to 'do it yourself', often called FSBO (for sale by owner), I did a google search for just mls. that revealed some sound blaster analysis tool... not quite what I was looking for. I searched a little farther, and found http://www.listmyhouse.com/fsbo/ where they claim you can get your listing in MLS for $399. that looks MIGHTY ATTRACTIVE. anyone ever tried something like that?

pocketmod

sara posted it and It is interesting. see http://www.pocketmod.com/
its a way of turning a single piece of paper (with a few folds, and a single cut) into a booklet. intended to replace the ever FAT PDA, it seems like it may be a cheap and viable alternative. it may even survive the washer.

mba class in paper

thanks for finding this jen. It is the MBA class i'm taking. the following is the message I posted to our student BBS system, telling others about it. I posted it in the OPTIONAL reading section as there was a big complaint in class (the same night the article was written) about people not wanting to have to read more than they had too.

my head is the one on the right of the image, right above 'purple shirt'


I think this is our class that made it in the paper. Note I am putting this in the OPTIONAL discussion board for those of you that are too lazy to read.

http://www.recordcourier.com/article/20050914/News/109140023

new laptop

so I finally got confirmation that my new laptop is in transit. I ordered it with a monitor stand, a USB memory thinggy, a rolly bag, extra 12V adapter, and extra 120v adapter. see anything strange on what fedex is sending me?

bannana gun

check out the description on this auction. hilarios!

techshows

thanks to slashdot for the the link to a summary of free techshows. some look interesting. its about time they put broadband to good use!

rockport

the other day my manager wanted to know how often I was going to replace steal toed shoes for those that work for me. I said "well, my shoes have lasted about 7 years.... but I think 1yr is reasonable"

good old ROCKPORTs waterproof, warn at LEAST every other day for 7 years. a little scuffed, and the sole is starting to wear but are still running strong.

this morning I snapped one of the shoes strings (not the origional) and now I have tow 1/4" strings I'm trying to tie in a bow-tie. I got half the knot. I was proud.

pocket projector

here is a pocket projector from mitsubishi slated for release Q4 of this year. LED builb (10,000 hrs) pricing around 800 bucks.

beatniks

I found this yet again on kevs only link. I find it particularly interesting because we discussed beatniks this weekend as the predecessor to hippies. If hippies had 'free love' what did beatniks have?


picaresque

Pronunciation: /pik-uh-RESK/

adj : of or relating to roguish heroes and their adventures

"The party was filled with beatniks, hippies, and sundry picaresque characters."

tesla

thanks to kev for the ONLY link on his link page I followed it to a small story about tesla here i've read a little of Teslas work, but I've never heard of this. it makes me want to get some more literature on the dude.

Tesla was virtually written out of history by the wealthy Energy Cartel, and later by the United States Government; who had him working on Top Secret Projects like the so-called "Philadelphia Experiment". This combined Tesla's technology with Einstein's still-secret discoveries in physics causing a US Navy Destroyer called the Eldridge to disappear in 1943 into a parallel Universe with 493 men aboard.

OB: reaction paper#1

a reaction paper for organizational behavior. i'm sure you guys will like it.

Program Reaction:
The program is finally off and rolling! It all started 1 year ago when I was on the motorcycle trip up to Canada and my father in law suggested I enroll in an MBA program. he said "an MBA will help you as much with your career as your undergrad in engineering has" so the only way to prove him right or wrong is to do it and see what happens! I have been anticipating the start of this program for awhile now and I was really hoping it would start last spring. I completed the application, took the GMAT, and thought I was accepted, but the school kept pushing the start date out. so... like I said, I'm really happy the program has started.

Teacher Reaction
The experience in big business (medical hospital field) is a great slant to add to the course material. my mother has been in nursing even before I was born, so I have heard much about the industry from a workers perspective. now I look forward to the bits and pieces that are always divulged during a good class discussion that will give insight into the inner workings of the corporate level of the medical industry. Its always fun to learn that even though the fields are very diverse (engineering compared to running a hospital) the same people issues seem to come up. its the people side that makes being a manager entertaining / challenging, and I hope your background can supplement my own and through our in class interaction help me to view people from a more rounded perspective and make me a more effective leader.

Powerpoint
I absolutely HATE powerpoint. I find that people throw a gazillion slides up and then read them to the audience. I always think to myself "WHY are you even standing there?, your just blocking the screen". I learned in my speech class in undergrad that visual aids are a must, but keep the slides to no more than about 1 for every 2 minutes of talk time. wait, maybe it was 2 for every 1 minute. well. I can't remember exactly, but the point is slides are a SUPPLIMENT to the material. as a new manager, I have found the importance of powerpoint in delivering information the those that work for you. there is MUCH info that my boss wants to me 'share' with those that work for me, the powerpoint presentation just serves as a reminder when I talk to keep me on topic. or rather I should say it will be when the company gets me the laptop. I'm sure you were reading this thinking I was going to dog on your use of powerpoint, but your wrong. I think you only had 4 slides the first night. you didn't read the slides to us, you used it as a reminder to share key thoughts with us. AWESOME. thats what powerpoint is all about. short, to the point, don't' read it.

Class diversity
Since Organizational Behavior is about people, why not analyze the class real quick! I was amazed to find that the class is over 1/3 GE, about 1/3 misc. engineering firms and 1/3 state workers. mix and match a little home entrepreneurs and harley davidson finance guys and you have our class. it really didn't shape up to be what I predicted. I figured it'd be 1/2 GE and 1/2 Starbucks, but for some reason Starbucks didn't really show? what gives? I guess that goes to show that no matter what type of group you 'think' you'll end up with, if you are open minded you can end up with just about anything. Thats something I need to put to work immediately. I need to remember not to stereotype people. on a whole a stereotype may be an accurate generalization but you will be hard pressed to hold free thinking people to 'the norm'

Class goal
I was glad to see that ALL of the people in the class are working professionals, that all look like a die hard crowd to finish this thing. I wonder how many people will drop out along the way? I"m sure we'll lose some, but right now it looks like the class shares the same hard viewpoint of making the classes meaningful. I like that the comments are on topic, and people aren't sleeping, walking in late, or taking tons of cell phone calls like undergrad. I hope the class maintains a professional atmosphere, as it is really inducive to learning.

Teams for Case Study
I wasn't quite sure what to expect for the case study groups. When I first read the syllabus I thought we were going to have to propose a topic the first night. I was very relieved to find a list of topics that we just had to sign up for. it was also convenient that you forced the teams to be 3 or 4 people. this made sure there wasn't half the class on one topic, and then each of the other topics only had 1 person assigned. I was a little puzzled that you didn't just throw the teams together by random. I appreciate you letting the teams self form, but I"m afraid what I've seen in the past will repeat itself and all of the 'smart' highly driven people will end up one team and a lot of people that may need more help, or be lacking one area, will be forced to be all together on one team. its kind of sad in a way. I think the rational that was given was that the people that were near each other could be on a team but was does location have to do with it?! this is the era of high speed communication. email, IM, blogs, webct, and even fax if you had to. I venture to say you could have thrown just about anyone together and if they had 21st century technology it wouldn't be a problem. oh wait. theres my stereotypical view again. now that I think about it again, I think there most defiantly are some in the class that are more tech savvy than others. it would be VERY challenging for me to be on a team with people that weren't Internet savvy, so my hat is off to you for letting us self form! thanks


Herzeberg
I have no idea what case study topic I signed up for. I must admit I just signed up for the first one to get it done. I hate procrastination. it just makes it more painful later. I say get it over with! and if I go first theres no major class standard I'm held to. I get to set the bars starting point. I like that. it eases the pressure.

MAIC
The book talks about the Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control process of six sigma in the first chapter. GE uses the DMAIC process, where D is Define. I learned in intro to engineering, one of the very first classes I took in undergrad that to find a suitable solution, you must FIRST understand the problem. so WHY in the world doesn't the authors of the book talk about the DMAIC process? is it not industry standard to first DEFINE the problem? its very strange and puzzling to me, and worth more investigation when I find time.

Teachers just work for money comment in class
In class, there was an article handed out about how there is a shortage of teachers in the local community. One person made the comment that it was 'just all about money, its always about money and the majority of the class went into a mini uproar. I can't believe people want to deny that they work for money. If you were so naive to admit to your boss that you just worked there because you liked your normal day job better than any of the hobbies you had, you'd be an idiot. I'm sure this class will bring up additional reasons why I go to work, but right now, I'm letting you know that I work for money. That is may main reason for working, is to put bread no the table. side reasons include: mental stimulation, growth (in all senses of the word), friends, atmosphere. reasons to NOT work include: being pissed off, not getting along with people, it costs money to commute to work, work takes up time that I'd rather be doing something else. hey look, I have my own little list of criteria for the Herzeberg report!

started class

I started my MBA this week. night classes for (count them) THREE YEARS. I am in two classes right now, organizatoinal behavior, and financial accounting. the course is comprised of 30 working professionals. over half the class is engineers from my company. the rest is comprised of a few engineers from other local business's, and then some misc. entrapanuaer (sp?) type people. its a fun mix. everyones serious about getting stuff done so not alot of stupid crap.

last night the instructor for the finance class brough CANDY to class. how cool is that. one class is 6-8:45 on mondays, and the other class is 6-8:45 on wednesdays. she said she didn't want us falling asleep. both classes should be very fun, but they are a SURVEY level. not many assignements, a bit of reading, and graded MAJORLY on in class participation. i'm not going to complain but I did expect a harder level for a masters. again it just proves you just have to do it. maybe i'll be proven wrong, and it'll be harder than I forsee, but I really doubt it.

they are also doing some of the classes through a chat room type thing over the internet. so it so happens that this holiday, thanksgiving and what not all happen to fall on an 'internet' day so that makes it super cool for vacations.

i've been working my nomral 40hr week, AND staying 2 hours late on monday and wednesday to wait for class to start (its in a building across the street). its KILLING Me. I leave teh house around 6:30 am and get home around 10pm. i'm sure i'll get use to it but its crazy. i'm glad its 2 days a week and no more. if it was everyday I'd die.

good looking?

I'm sure most of you have heard that tall good looking men are on average more successful in their carreers than the short stubby variety. I wonder if the same is true for women? I was looking through some recent candidates for a position, and I thought to myself no, no, no. and then I meet one of them. I reconsidered on looks.