Tralfaz

Category: blog

  • Where did all those people come from?

    Where did all those people come from?

    This morning, I had a meeting with someone who was interested in collaborating on a project. We picked a small boutique coffee shop near my office (that I selfishly could walk to) and a time that seemed to be between the morning rush, and their noontime bump.

    Fortunately, the person I was meeting got there plenty early to grab a table. Holy shit, that place was packed at 9:45. People talking, kibitzing, working on their novel, doing character development.

    The flippin’ line at the counter was 10 deep when I got there, it took 5 minutes to order, and then it took 10 more minutes for them to make my Cafe Latte.

    I mean, don’t these people have, uh jobs? Are that many people working off shift?

    What a pain in the arse.

    For the record though, Chromatic Coffee does make a fine cup, and is a bit more appealing than Starbucks.

  • The new Hawaii 5-0

    The new Hawaii 5-0

    As part of my Netflix binging, I have watched (most) of the original Hawaii 5-0 and the 2010 remake. An interesting amalgam of shows.

    The original series was a Jack Lord vehicle, a way to justify living in Hawaii, and to promote tourism in Hawaii. Beautifully filmed, the writing was crisp and fresh (for 1968 that is), and the stories were compelling.

    The Remake is refreshing. A lot more character development gets you more involved with the personalities behind the main players. In the original, over the 8 years I watched, there was “some” development of the McGarrett character (played by Alex O’Laughlin, a favorite for the ladies), and even less of the Danny Williams character. In the remake, there is a lot more background, and extended divergences into their backstories. (more…)

  • Living in a War Zone (San Jose)

    Living in a War Zone (San Jose)

    I must be getting old. My tolerance for ass-hattery is pretty much shot. I mean, who doesn’t love firework displays? However, there is a limit.

    Last year, living on the wrong side of CA85, it was like a war zone on New Year’s Eve. I was hoping that by moving to the “better” side, with more single family homes, and fewer apartment and duplex/triplex dwellers, the volume, and intensity of fireworks would be lessened.

    I was sadly mistaken. There were a couple of early events, but the real displays began a few minutes before 8 PM. Not even when the frickin’ ball dropped in Times Square. From that time on, it was a pretty steady staccato of the illegal sort all night. Firecrackers, bottle rockets (and larger), as well as Roman Candles. Annoying, but ok, I can understand this slight bending of the safe and sane rules.

    Heck, I was a kid once, and enjoyed the pop of firecrackers. (more…)

  • Last post of 2015

    2015 is in the books. Apart from a pretty lazy day in the office, and trying to keep Garrett from freaking out with the inevitable fireworks, you can stick a fork in 2015, it is DONE.

    Some big changes, we bought a house in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, a modest 1,400 sqft abode for a whopping $695K, and every cent we could get our hands on. For the first time ever, we had a significant amount of work done before the move in. Nothing major or structural, but quite a bit of plumbing was in need of work (and the water supply/sewer lines were an expensive “gotcha”). The appliances were Roper and GE out of the 1970’s, and just nasty, and poof they are gone, replaced with decent drop in replacements (Kitchenaid, LG and Bosch). Finally, we had the popcorn ceiling removed, and all the interior repainted, as it was, um, ugly. It is a nearly 50 year old house, with good bones, and we are happy with it.

    Our hounds, Garrett and Tate, are still with us, although Tate’s seizures have been trying. We have worked him down from his Keppra dosage that really wasn’t doing the job, started him on potassium bromide, and we are hopeful that it will work. (more…)

  • It’s over (holidays at least)

    It’s over (holidays at least)

    I am not sure who said it first: “All good things must come to an end…”, but it is a truism. Alas, the holiday shutdown and followup vacation days are now over.

    Today I go back to the office for the first time in 11 days. In the interim was Christmas, some time with family, reading a few books, finishing the latest edition of The Baffler (if you are a natural born cynic, who bleeds sarcasm, I highly recommend it, although it can be a tough read at times), and beginning to plot the creation of a custom designed weather monitoring station.

    Highlights:

    • Way too much eating. Really outdid myself this year. The new year must bring restraint and some self control.
    • Quality time with the family. I hosted a brunch for all the locals, and it was a good time.
    • Tate is now 30 days seizure free. The fear of a pending seizure during the holidays, possibly necessitating a drastic decision didn’t happen.
    • Speaking of Tate, just about EVERY morning we went for a 2.5 – 3.6 mile walk. Phew, at least I got some exercise.
    • I splurged on an Arduino “kit” to teach myself the essentials I will need to build a better weather station than our dying Oregon Scientific unit. It was refreshing to remember some of my crusty old C programming skills.
    • Set up my blood pressure monitoring for 2016, moving to Excel from Google Docs. That deserves a blob post, but let’s say that the 4 years I used google docs has been a love/hate relationship. It works, but even for trivial things like this long term tracking, it leaves one wanting.

    Lowlights:

    • I have been weaning myself on sleep aids (melatonin, and benadryl) so my sleep patterns have been screwy. A good thing, but it is not a good transition. However, I have no trouble falling asleep (the reason why I started the Benadryl in the first place), but as a light sleeper, I struggle to make it through the night. Sigh.
    • It was a damn cold snap through the last 11 days. I got out for one bike ride, on a day where it was barely 50F, and the wind was brutal. No bueno. Alas, I do not have good cold weather gear, and no money for proper gear. Last Christmas, it was flirting with 70F. I guess I shouldn’t complain, this will help the snowpack, and the drought.
    • It is over. Boo.

    Of course, expect this 2 day workweek to be catching up on email, filing away the 2015 final flourishes, and then getting ready for a raucous 2016.

    Tomorrow, I will summarize my year in posts, and try not to over commit to change for the new year. (one change I need to make: I need to sign the waiver, so I can use the gym at work.)

  • Merry Christmas – 2015

    Merry Christmas – 2015

    It is Christmas day in the Beck/Anderson household. The day started well, I slept until almost 5:00 AM, not bad for me lately, some fresh coffee, and about 6:00, I was lobbied hard for a walk by Tate. Today, Garrett didn’t join us, so Tate got a 3.2 mile walk in. That should tire him out!

    Since the boys aren’t too kind to trees, we don’t do a lot of internal decorating, and we never really got into the habit of really hanging lights when we lived in Arizona. However, we finally have a house, in a neighborhood, and it already has hooks, and an outdoor outlet for lights, so we did some decorating. (more…)

  • Hobbyist Electronics

    I am sure I disappointed my dad growing up. He tried mightily to get me interested in electronics, even building many Heathkit projects with me. I remember an AM radio, and a few others, but for me it was boring, and as a pre-teen, I just didn’t get into it.

    He had a Heathkit oscilloscope, and had built our hi-fi system from Heathkits, among many others. We had a B&W TV that often needed new tubes, and I recall taking tubes to the tester at the local K-Mart back before it became white trash shopping. But the bug never bit.

    (more…)

  • A “new” streaming contender – Pandora

    Early on when I began to listen to streaming music, I got a Pandora account. Probably 2011 or 2012. At first, it was the only solution, and I listened, but I found that the depth of their catalog “felt” weak. Radio stations would repeat songs often, and it just fell off the radar.

    Spotify, and then the Google / Apple offerings came along, and I was satisfied. So I seriously hadn’t even fired up Pandora in a long time. Like in two iPhone refreshes (that is 4 years).

    But, a few days ago, I was cleaning up my iPhone’s apps, and I saw that the Pandora app had just refreshed. I figured “what the f*ck” and fired it up. (more…)

  • Let the Holidays Commence – What to do

    Let the Holidays Commence – What to do

    Today, at noon, we started our holiday shutdown, so I am off work for a whole week. I am going to do plenty of reading, maybe some bicycling, fawn over my boys, and in general relax.

    However, I have the itch to do a project. Since our little Oregon Scientific weather station is getting a little tired, and the replacements all seem to suck, I am going to make a little weather station.

    Plenty of instructions and guidance on the web for this, but I have some learning to do first. I never really had an electronics bug. Sure, I know the mathematics, and what the components do, but wiring shit up? Not really. (more…)

  • Visiting Family

    Since we moved back from Arizona last year, we are a lot closer to our families, and we need to take advantage of that. Of course Barbara has been much more proactive than myself, but that is no excuse.

    Last year we visited my sister, Tracey and her wife in their home in Mountain Ranch, California. A lovely place nestled in the hills of Calaveras county, and a modest 2.5 hour drive away (depending on traffic, naturally), and loved it. The boys did as well.

    Of course, living in the country, they have a veritable menagerie of animals. (more…)