-
·
Google’s “All Access” vs. Spotify Round 1
I have written in the past about the music “locker” services. I have been a user of Amazon, Google’s Play, and Apple’s iTunes Match. But I have actually gone to using Spotify pretty much across the board. They have a great library, very deep, and lots of great genre’s to experiment with and explore. Since…
-
·
My ride – 2002 Lemond Buenos Aires
Since I regaled people with the drama about failing wheels, and buying a new wheelset, I thought I would spend a little time talking about my current road bike. It is a 2002 vintage Lemond Buenos Aires. Made by Trek, is is a steel tube framed bike with a carbon fork. I bought it in…
-
·
My first encounter with a Retina MacBook Pro
The other night, after quaffing a couple fine Czech style pilsners at Gordon Birsch (highly recommended, I might add), I wandered the 100 or so feet to the Gilbert Apple Store. I am usually cautious at an apple store, because sometimes reason evades me and I find myself whipping out my plastic to upgrade to…
-
·
An expensive day – Bicycling Woes
Lately, I have been pretty jazzed that my feet have allowed me to begin bicycling again. For the longest time, my plantar fasciitis pretty much put the kabosh on cycling. But about a month ago I gave it another whirl, and it was not painful. Woo hoo, I love to cycle, and it would be…
-
·
Making things too difficult – RasPi WiFi setup
Well, sometimes I am an idiot. I jumped through major league hoops that were totally unnecessary in getting my WiFi dongle to connect with my Wireless router. I looked for help on the web, Found a lot of guidelines that were a bit involved, but not atrocious. So I started doing what they asked. Got…
-
·
Next up on the Raspberry Pi
Last week, I wrote about how I on a lark bought one of the raspberry pi single board computers. The first round of goodies for it was a SD card (to write the OS to and boot from), and a HDMI cable to connect it to my Samsung monitor. Got it fired up and all was…
-
·
Weight loss update – My quest to not be a person of Walmart
Another boring post, but hey, it helps me keep track. In 3 & 1/2 weeks, I have lost 13+ pounds. The ‘+’ means that I am oh so close to breaking through a plateau that I can hardly wait. Plateaus are something that just happen, and anyone who has done serious dieting knows that they…
-
·
Latest toy: Raspberry Pi
On Tuesday, I was reading a story on The Economist about the Raspberry Pi. It certainly spawned the nostalgic sense in the Babbage editor, and it drove me to make an impulse purchase. For $35, you get a pretty complete single board, miniature computer. about 2.5 by 4 inches, it packs in a pretty powerful…
-
·
Biggest Change
Last month, we visited my dad to celebrate his 80th birthday. A great accomplishment, and we had a great time with the whole clan together. (It doesn’t hurt that San Diego is a great place to visit ) One question that was asked of my dad was: “What is the biggest change in your lifetime(so…
-
·
Why Physics is Awesome
One common application of the atomic force microscopes that we make is to measure properties of bio-molecules. AFM’s have long been used to image DNA strands, but the more interesting work is when you functionalize the probe, and then try to “pick up” a bio-molecule (like a protein). I am working on definition of improvements…