Tralfaz

Month: July 2013

  • Almost back to normal – a week after re-imaging my laptop

    Last week, I had to get my laptop re-imaged. I had fouled up either my hive, or the install of Windows, so it had become incredibly unstable. Probably my fault. (ok, almost certainly my fault).

    It has taken a week to get back to functional. All the key software is installed. The settings are back to where I like them (for power options etc), and I got all the essential drivers sorted (you really need to have the touchpad driver installed and configured if you are going to type on this thing, otherwise the incidental contact on the touchpad will cause the cursor to move, and drive you batshit insane)

    We use Symantec endpoint protection, and I hate it. It is resource heavy, and there is no way (allowed at least) as an end user to adjust how it works. We also require our laptops to use whole disk encryption, which again is a resource hog. It only took 3 days for the 300G HD to initially encrypt (that took all weekend!!!)

    The only thing I forgot to do was to backup my IE favorites. And since there are internal sites that ONLY work on IE, I have to re-create them.

    Sigh.

  • What I miss about Tucson

    After being in Chandler for a year, I do have some things that I miss from Tucson.

    The weather – The predictable, and at times wild summer Monsoons. The smells of the desert after a storm is intoxicating.

    The critters – The den of gila monsters near our house, the snakes (gopher and diamond back rattlesnakes). The Colorful banded lizards, the cotton tail rabbits, the javelinas, the coyotes, the bobcats, well, you get the picture. Suburban Chandler is nowhere near as diverse.

    Cafe Poca Cosa – A local gem that I have yet to find a replacement for.

    Tucson Int’l Airport – Nothing like a small, local, easily accessible airport. Phoenix is typical big metropolitan, and chaotic (but we do get to most destinations non-stop)

    Living at the edge of town – We had a lot of privacy, and great neighbors who were friendly and supportive.

    Coffee Xchange – local coffee house that was vastly superior to any big chain.

    Mount Lemmon – 25 minutes away. A short drive, and you were at 9,000 ft. A different world.

    Hiking trails – Sabino canyon, window rock, finger trail, Douglas Springs, Saguaro Nat’l park. All within a reasonable drive, delivering world class hiking.

    Cycling – Saguaro East was always my favorite loop. Or head out Old Spanish Trail and into Vail for a longer ride.

    Tucson McGraw’s – a cantina/grill on the hill with a fabulous view. Decent drinks, good food, and great views.

    The Grill at Hacienda del Sol – Probably the best restaurant in town. Great views, entertainment, and fabulous wine list coupled with a great menu. A good splurge!

    Ah well, it is only 2 hours away…

  • Switching back to my iPad

    About 8 months ago, on a whim I bought a Nexus 7. Really to be used for testing websites I work on for how they look on that size screen, a few months ago I decided to give Android a fair shake. Caveat: I have been an Apple person since 2002 or so, and have been with iOS since the original iPhone, so I am clearly a biased opinion.

    The fair shake involved me using the Nexus 7 for all my media consumption, and tablet like duties (email, magazine reading, newspaper apps, etc). I did not “root” my device, or install a modified ROM. It is plain Android (jelly bean 4.2 right now I think). I have only used the Android play store, and I have never sideloaded apps (unlike most of my Android phanatique friends, who load tons of pirate apps).

    I have documented some of the annoyances in the past, but I will summarize:

    • The auto intensity adjustment is flakey. I read in bed, and the intensity switches levels a couple times a minute. I have never seen that with my iPad.
    • The interface is at times unresponsive. Mostly noticeable during games (for example Astra Solitaire is painful to play, because the UI at times take 2 or 3 stabs with your finger to get it to respond. But I experience this with many applications. From reading the forums, this is not an uncommon Android experience.
    • Gmail application. When I got this, it was great, very well mimicking the web browser version. But they have Google+’d it, and it sucks. I have gone back to using the “other” mail application.
    • Chrome is missing one killer feature. Safari on the ipad (and on my mac as well), has a “reader” mode. It strips all the miscellaneous cruft, and displays the main content in a larger, easy to read font. Yes, Chrome lets you double tap to size it to the window, but that often is still text that is too small to comfortably read.
    • The facebook application for android blows donkeys. It is just horrible. The iOS app used to suck, but about 4 months ago, a major rewrite made it killer and easy to use. Android still suffers here.
    • The Google Play music app is painful to use. Really hard to create/modify playlists on the device.
    • The accuracy of where it reads taps is odd. This is hard to explain, but for example, if you are looking at the device tilted back, and you pull up the email account selector on the gmail app, in the iOS world, it would know that you are looking at the screen tilted, and assume that you will tap a little low. Android misses this, and you select the one below your intent.
    • Battery life is atrocious. I don;t play much music, or video, but have to charge it every day to day and a half for 2 – 3 hours of reading, light browsing. My iPad (granted a much larger device), I get easily 3 – 5 days of that same amount of usage. And it is 2,5 years old, so the battery isn’t fresh. I suspect this is somewhat caused by a lot of background processes that are constantly active. Unlike my iOS devices, it does update programs and the system silently and in real time. So I often have updates in the notification area. IOS prompts me to upgrade apps, so I tend to do it all at once.

    I have heard people on the interwebz saying that the Nexus 7 is the best tablet out there, period. I suspect that they have never spent time with an iPad. It is just enough more polished, and less intrusive to knock the Nexus 7 off the pedestal that some place it. I haven’t toyed with one of the updated Nexus 7’s, perhaps they fix these gripes, but I suspect it is more tied to the Android OS, than the hardware, so I would be skeptical.

    So, I am back on the iPad, and I will keep dabbling with the Nexus 7, but it isn’t going to displace iOS for me. (as I said, I was biased)

  • Injuries – Foot edition

    I have battled the scourge that is Plantar Fasciitis for a few year now. First cropping up in early 2010, it is a painful condition that really needs lots of rest and strengthening exercises. Returning to physical activity too soon is a sure way to make it far worse, and last longer.

    What I have now is not it recurring though. This appears to be a sprain in the tendon on the top of the foot (instead of the plantar ligament), and affects only the ligament on the large toe. Ouchies. I have had this for a couple of weeks, and it seemed to fade pretty quickly (i.e. heal), but it came back with a vengeance on Saturday after a 26 mile bike ride. I guess the stress of pedaling on the upper ligaments of my foot are aggravating it.

    Sigh, rest, stretching, and vitamin I (ibuprofen) to see if I can get it to heal without a trip to the podiatrist. If that doesn’t work, I am sure it will be another series of prednesone will be in store.

    Getting old sucks. If your feet hurt, you are miserable. And foolishly exercising when you are injured is stupid.

  • Daniel Craig – Best Bond Ever

    I have long been a James Bond fan. Started in the Roger Moore era, then the Pierce Brosnan era, and the single Timothy Dalton episode.  Then I detoured though the Sean Connery set of masterpieces. Loved them all.

    But the new ones, with Daniel Craig as Bond are the best. Yes, the effects are amazing, but they always were the best that their time had to offer. The stories are better. They are more imaginative, and well written, and without a doubt less cheesy. But there is something else that Craig brings to Bond.

    My wife hit on it last night while we were watching Casino Royale, Daniel Craig get cuts, bruises and he looks like he has been involved in the fights, battles, and action. It adds a level of realism that brings the character to life.

    That, and Judi Dench is just kicks ass as ‘M’. Shame that they retired her in Skyfall, but I am sure Ralph Fiennes will carry the torch well.

    Looking forward to the Bond/Moneypenny interplay!

  • Fitness in the Desert-Hydration

    I grew up in the SF bay area, a place with very mild climate. Yes, we got a couple of triple digit days a year, but in general the humidity was mild, it never got too hot or too cold, and I never really worried about hydration.

    When I got to Arizona, it became a significant concern. I wasn’t going to let the climate curtail my activities, but suddenly, hydration became a huge deal. Even in the winter time when the temperatures are very pleasant, the humidity is so low that water is just wicked out of your body at phenomenal rates. In the summer, when the temperatures are in triple digits for three months, humidity is in the 20’s, you really need to be careful.

    Water is important, but unless you are exercising for only a brief time, you need something that will help replace your electrolytes. I am definitely one of those who puts more salt out in their sweat, so anytime I am out for more than a half hour I have to rely on supplement.

    My top hydration product I use is Accelerade. It is a mixture of carbs, electrolytes, and protein. This combination really helps keep me going for longer rides. I typically mix it a little weak. The amount for a pint, mixed into 24 or 32 ounces is about perfect. However, I can’t just have accelerade, even mixed weak.  I have to have water with me as well. With this combo, I can easily go for 3 or 4 hours even in 110F temperatures. The one down side is that it causes me to retain water like crazy. After a day of riding or hiking, I will actually gain 3 pounds or so of water weight.

    When I am less aggressive in my exercise, I use a product called Nuun. These are tablets that you add to a pint of water. Mildly flavored, it has no carbohydrates, and a good mix of electrolytes. This is good for medium exertion efforts, my lunchtime jogs, mid distance walks, and when I cycle to and from the office. We discovered this product when we were preparing to hike the grand canyon. Space and weight were crucial considerations. We saw these little tubes full of hydration tablets and just popped them in our basket. Fast forward three years, and I rediscovered them, and am now a religious user.

    One product that I prefer not to use is Gatorade. It really has too much sugar in it for while I am exercising, and it is too heavy when I am recovering.  I just don’t like it.

    As a sufferer of coronary artery disease, I try to keep a low sodium diet. That works when I am not exercising, but when I exercise I quickly get the symptoms of hyponatremia, and that is far more dangerous than having too much sodium.  So I walk a fine line in balance, monitor my weight, and my blood pressure daily to understand where I am (and of course, I take lots of medicine)

    All part of life in the desert.

  • The itch. It will pass

    Out on the bicycle today, putting in my usual punishing 26 mile loop, I got to thinking how much I miss off road cycling. Alas, with my health concerns, I can’t get back on a motocross bike and roost like I used to, but I can get back on a mountain bike.

    I have had mountain bikes in the past, first a Diamondback Ascent EX (which came with the shittiest wheels EVER, replaced them with wheelsmiths, and they were bulletproof), and much later a Pretty reasonable Specialized Stumpjumper Comp M2.

    After moving to Arizona, I got out of the habit of off road bicycling. Yes, Fantasy Island in Tucson was a pretty good set of trails, but the mountains and hiking were much bigger calls to me.

    Now that I am in Phoenix, and the hiking is less close at hand, the desire to get back onto a mountain bike is tempting.

    My last ride, the SJ Comp I bought back in 1998, and rode the hell out of it. I lived in the San Jose area, and there were tons of great trails, not far from where I lived that were surprisingly bereft of other riders. I put a lot of miles on that bike. But, in the move last year, I sold it.

    A while back we walked into a local bike store, and as always, I drooled over the mountain bikes. My, a lot has changed since 1998. Good suspension, better brakes (disc brakes) and 29″ wheels are all cool, and drool-worthy.

    Alas, I will probably be able to resist this urge. I would have to drive the bike out to good trails, and if I am going to do that, I will probably just hike.

    But it is fun to dream.

  • One year in Chandler – Time flies

    On this date, one year ago, we were busting our humps with the movers to get our stuff moved into our house. There were boxes everywhere (most where they belonged), and furniture that was almost in the right room.

    That day was a blur, but it felt good to arrive in Chandler and get down to settling in.

    I remember the AC was flakey in the south side of the house (the living area), and the sod that was recently put in was turning into a rainforest in the back yard, but it was “home”.

    The next couple of days were a blur of unpacking, getting the gas turned on (the one utility that I forgot to do before move in), and get to a state where we could cook and eat. Literally hundreds of boxes were unpacked. Yes, there are still a few to go (need to get enough ahead to buy some furniture and cubbyholes), but it is home.

  • Refresher: Set theory and logic

    Yesterday, while I was waiting for my computer to be reimaged due to some serious funk happening with my outlook mail, I had a couple hours to burn. After I killed a longer than normal walk at lunch, I sat down in the lobby with a good book.

    Background: my products are reliant on a lot of technology, but one aspect is critical in how they work and are used. This being a PID Servo Control system. While you don’t need to know in depth what that is to use one of our instruments, having a deep knowledge does indeed help you get the most out of it.

    Control theory is something you would imagine to be the realm of electrical engineers, but curiously, it seems to be the realm of mechanical engineering. And at the root of it is math. To understand what is really happening, and how it works, you need to know a branch of mathematics called “Discrete Mathematics”. This is the foundation of computers and computer science, dealing with the world broken into discrete pieces and processed algorithmically. (As an aside, my education is in Physics, and there we deal in continuum mathematics, similar, but distinctly different).

    So I picked up a textbook. I might have mentioned in the past that Dover publishing does a wonderful job of keeping classic science and math texts in print, and affordable.

    The early parts of this text are a deep dive into set theory, function representation, and logic (mathematical logic is not the same as what most people think of logic). Being a child of the 70’s, and the evolution of mathematics elementary education, I had always some concepts of sets, and operations on sets. But beyond this informal early introduction, I never really dove into the subject. Some of my physics topics touched upon it, but again, it was using set theory to get to a solution.

    The first chapter was an eye opener. I realize what I had learned earlier was very shallow, and cursory, but now I have a much deeper understanding of these foundations of modern mathematics.

    A good way to spend a couple hours.  Next up is counting (combinatorics).

  • What a wasted day

    The joy that is Windows. Every so often you need to blow it all away and start from scratch. Today was that day.

    Outlook had been a piece of garbage for quite some time. Lots of bandaids, duct tape and baling wire was keeping me up and running. But today it finally gave up the ghost.

    So, back up all my files, and off to IT to reimage, and get me back to a stable state. Alas, a lot of software needs to be installed to get me functional.

    So, I really got 2 hours of work done today, and tonight I need to leave it running to complete the encryption of the disk (paused now).

    Happy, happy, joy, joy, joy