John Boal's Blog

Garmin Nuvi 765T GPS: FAIL.

John Boal — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:04:56 GMT

while driving, the new 765T decided that it would be a good time for it to "update its firmware." So, it says "updating firmware 1%" ... it says this a few times. I turned it off (I'm DRIVING and I need it to navigate...) and it seemed to be back to normal. A while later it happens again, and then I get the
"Update Complete - OK" dialog. clicked OK, and it turns itself off. Never to be heard from again. Dark. Nothing. Lifeless BRICK. I can't believe it BRICKED ITSELF WHILE DRIVING and ON THE ROAD. Spent 55 minutes on the phone (mostly waiting for a human) for them to tell me "uh, yeah its one of many reports we started receiving today." So Joy.

Garmin in their infinite wisdom decided it might *NOT* be a good idea to ship me another identical unit... so it looks like I will be getting an upgrade to a 800 series. Will see how well THIS brick works when it arrives next week...

Garmin Firmware Programmers: You're FIRED.

Camping: Wenberg State Park Day 3

John Boal — Mon, 25 May 2009 04:48:28 GMT

Got up at 7AM and fished off the shore of the lake for a bit, had as much luck as yesterday. It was quiet until about 8am. Sheesh don’t people got stuff to do on a Sunday morning. Got out the soldering iron and melted all up and down the seam of the leaking shower head, sealing it nicely. Ugly as sin, but it now doesn’t spray all over when it gets used… Went on an excursion today to visit Camano island state park, just for a day trip. Nice drive through farmland, wetlands, mudflats and the like. Perfect weather for yet a third day yields 73 degrees and sunny. *ALL* of the snow-capped peaks of the Puget Sound area mountains are visible today through the hazey air. Quite a treat. Nice little summer preview today, without the heat (thank GOD). Fished off the dock for a few minutes at the park as I obtained a new overdose of vitamin D. I was chased down by a large and lovely, yet heavily armed, member of the state wildlife enforcement division, who requested to see a “license.” Fortunately I had remembered to put it in my tackle box and I showed it to her, but that seemed to satisfy her as she left to pursue other perps. Repeated requests to cuff me went unfulfilled… Child One and Mommy are off to play at the park while I construct a new waste dump hose assembly. Cheap crappy hose we bought last year sprung leaks already, that’s only 9 months. Ugh. Where’s that beer..

Camping: Wenberg State Park Day 2

John Boal — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:45:17 GMT

Plumbing seems to have held up (more or less). Shower head leaks from the seam when the water pressure is on. Cheap Chinese plastic crap. Went fishing in the morning for an hour, didn’t catch anything except lake weed. Might have been too late, the guy that was there had a whole string of fish. Plus its so dang shallow that its probably only 9’ deep out 100 feet anyway and I bet the lake weed is 6 feet high. Makes fishing from shore a pain in the butt anyway. Next time I am bringing my inflatable boat. Whilst trying to hook up the laptop to the VGA port on the TV, and I knocked the laptop off the TV stand and it crashed to the floor, injuring the front right plastic piece. It was still playing Mythbusters for my son as I picked it up. I snapped the speaker grille plastic back in place, and with a little super glue, it should be fine. I tried like hell to light a camp fire, but it just would NOT catch. Even under the blue flame of a propane torch.

Campfire: FAIL.

Need more beer. Fell fast asleep on the couch in about 17 seconds.

Camping: Wenberg State Park Day 1

John Boal — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:39:25 GMT

Got the trailer parked and leveled. Yay. Beer is cold Yay.

Shower plumbing: FAIL. Nap: FAIL. <Sigh>

When we turned on the water, the shower valve handle shot out, squirting water all over the tiny bathroom. The plastic threaded piece under the handle that holds the valve into the fixture had broken and allowed the handle and valve to be ejected once there was pressure in the system. A trip into Marysville (WalMart) yielded a tube of superglue which fixed the failed handle valve’s plastic part, and thus I was able to repair the plastic valve and restore water service to the trailer again. Of course, the shower head handle now leaked water from a crack in its cheap design, so electrical tape was my friend in this repair. Cheap plastic crap didn’t even last until the second year.

OK, now it’s time to EAT. Hmmm… Costco has both gas and Meat… mmmmm.

Grilled raw meat over open fire. MMM Meat. Fire good. Chicken and rice… still can’t figure out how to grill the rice though, dangit.

Cranked up the old school ROCK N ROLL. Jethro Tull, ACDC, Stones, Beatles, Foghat, lots of classics… woot! Several hours of ripped internet radio fits on a 256MB SD card that plugs in to the stereo. BTW what’s a “CD” again?

Son and wife are playing frisbee with the other kids.

Now its time for shower and bed. It’s a good thing we have a working water system with hot water again…

Weird Stir Fry (vegetarian)

John Boal — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:28:49 GMT

2 carrots, sliced into thin pieces
1/2 bell pepper (red)
1/2 bell pepper (orange)
1/2 bell pepper (green)
1/4 small yellow onion, diced
10 small mushrooms, sliced
1/2 small cucumber, sliced thin (slices halved)
4 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
1/8 c fish sauce
1/4 c soy sauce
2 c sake (rice wine)
1/2 c water
2 tbsp sesame oil (or olive)

Carrots should be sliced (not lengthwise) into small thin circles. They cook better that way. Slice bell peppers into thin strips then cut to about 1-2" length. Dice onion and garlic into as fine pieces as you have the patience for. Slice and halve the cucumbers, thinly slice the mushrooms.

Combine oil, garlic, onion and red pepper flakes in teflon pan, cook on high, stirring constantly. After a couple minutes, add carrot slices and a small amount of rice wine (about 1/4 c). Stir and cook about 5 minutes or until the carrots start to become tender. If the mix starts to get dry, add some water and keep cooking. Then add the bell pepper slices and another 1/4 c of rice wine. Stir, cook. After a few more minutes, add the mushrooms and another 1/2 c of rice wine. Stirr, cook. After about 5 min, add all remaining ingredients and stir, cook, stir until it's done.

mildly spicy, weird, and good...

Enjoy!

Messenger Etiquette and RFC8172

John Boal — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:47:05 GMT

Messenger Chat Conversation
A: Bye
B: OK, c ya
A: L8r
B: G8r
A: lol
B: :-)
A: ok bye
B: k, c ya
A: i'm going now
B: ok
A: bye
A: ok i really got to go.
B: ok.
<disconnected>

Chat Goodbye: FAIL.

PEOPLE. messenger is a tool for communication. Sometimes real life gets in the way of messenger time. I know, that is hard to take, but it IS reality. When it's time to go, GO. Say "bye" and then log out. Why we got to "bye" each other 7 times? Come on, we don't really have to be THAT polite, it's MESSENGER... it is a secondary form of communication... nobody is going to be insulted if you just say "bye" and log off. REALLY.

So, let me propose a new internet standard...

Messenger Sign-Off Protocol [MSOP] RFC8172
1. Protocol Semantics
    1.1 Announcement of Intent to Disconnect [AID]
        The Disconnecting Party [DP] announces that they intend to terminate the conversation and disconnect.
        Example. "I got to go. See you later..."
        Timeframe: Disconnect Timer [DT] Initiated (10 seconds)
    1.2 Confirmation of AID
        The Receiving Party [RP] must acknowledge the receipt of AID, and confirm the imminent termination of the conversation.
        Example. "OK, thanks. See you later."
    1.3 Final Intent to Disconnect [FID] (optional)
        Either party DP or RP may enter a final optional message, ONLY if possible within the DT interval.
        Example. "By the way I might be on later."
    1.4 Confirmation of FID (optional)
        Other party may enter a final optional acknowledgement ONLY if possible within the DT interval.
        Example. "OK, bye for now."
    1.5 Disconnect (EOM)
        Actually disconnect from the conversation. It's over. Go on with life now.
    1.6 Disconnect (DT expiry)
        When DT expires, disconnection is in effect, and termination occurs. Now go do something useful.
2. Disconnection
    2.1 Log-off
    2.2 Closure of chat window
    2.3 Locking of workstation
    2.4 Minimizing of chat window

Please support RFC8172 and follow the protocol for MSOP, and tell your friends.

PS Don't TXT while driving. Seriously. Or I will have to come over there and kill you.

Death by Balloon Notification - Outlook Flavor

John Boal — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:20:23 GMT

"The connection to the Exchange server has been lost."
I am heartbroken.

"The connection to the Exchange server has been restored."
uh.. OK thanks... should I feel better now?

Up, down, back and forth... each time a new notification balloon appears above the system tray icon for Outlook. Since I positioned my command window just above the system tray, these little things cover the text I am trying to type... OK, I get that there are some problems with connectivity to my Exchange 14 dogfood server... FINE. I accepted that risk when I agreed to sign up for dogfood. The on and off again notifications are KILLING ME though and interrupting my work on the command line...

I have found a way to turn these off!
First for some flavorful keywords so your favorite search engine picks up this article...

outlook 2007 notification balloon system tray icon exchange server connection lost restored
also outlook 2003 in case you haven't joined the last half of this decade yet.

In the registry there are some keys to create that will disable these notification balloons for this specific problem of connectivity to the Exchange server.

Open registry editor and find this path:

2007: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0
2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0

under this path, find this sub key:
\Outlook\Display Types\Balloons

there, create three DWORD values:
Exchange: DWORD (0)
NetConn: DWORD (0)
NetWarn: DWORD (0)

that's it! restart Outlook and you're FREE from the nuisance of notifications!
there are other notifications you can turn off as well, perhaps someday I will research them and post the list (don't hold your breath.)

Peace!

Spicy Pork Stew

John Boal — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:04:58 GMT

Simpler is better I think. Here is a simple but tasty recipe I whipped up for pork stew. Prep + cooking time is about 20 minutes total. Start the rice ahead of time.

1/2 serrano chili pepper, diced very fine
2 large cloves fresh garlic, peeled, diced very fine
1-2 potatoes
3-5 carrots
1-2 c thin sliced pork (or chicken, etc.) cut in bite sized pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine (any type)
1 c water

Combine meat, olive oil, pepper and garlic in frying pan (or pot). Cook until meat begins to brown, then add wine and cook down until meat is fully cooked. I cook on high, and stir continuously. Add carrots and water. Boil the mix for about 5 minutes, then add potatoes. Cook down to reduce water content until it becomes a stew.

Serve over brown rice.

Yum!

Let's Be Defriends

John Boal — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:10:26 GMT

John is no longer friends with [Facebook User].

OK, it doesn't really say that. But, it probably should...

Dear [ex-friend]... So thanks for being my Facebook Friend for the past few weeks. I've read your statuses (sorry you are feeling so sick - TMI BTW), and looked at your profile. I've looked at all your pictures of vacations, relatives, and your dog. I've taken your quizzes and licked your lollipop. I've been hit by your virtual food fight, drunk your virtual drinks, and your virtual coffees. It's all good. I mean - it's not you, it's me... and I am pretty sure you're just not that into me either. After all, we really don't know each other. We've never met and live thousands of miles apart... I am pretty sure the only things we have in common are Facebook, and the fact that I once saw a dog like yours. So, don't take this the wrong way, but you're clogging up my friends list and my status feed and I think its time we broke it off. You're just not adding any value to my FB experience. We're both adults (if your age on your profile is actually true) so I think we can safely move on with our digital lives now.

It's been fun, so have a nice life. And, if you really really need to be my friend, you know where to find me. Right here, trapped - in Facebook.

Facebook May Be Evil.

John Boal — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:26:14 GMT

OK so there is a 78% chance that Facebook may actually be evil. Since I discovered it last fall, it has been consuming a lot of my free time... The games that integrate into the platform are engineered in such a way that they compel people to hit the 'book frequently, and invite others to do the same. It's kind of like Second Life, only in First Life. I gave up on L2 because it just didn't have any *real* attraction. Everything was phony and left solely to the author's imagination. I just think real life is so much more interesting... With my friends and family, coworkers, people I used to know, and the odd folks around the world who play the online games with me on my profile, there is a never-ending stream of useless, but interesting commentary and (sometimes personal) information. FB is a soap opera of epic proportions. Hence, returning back to my original statement, evil... Not that soap operas are evil. With the amount of social engineering that has gone into the development of FB, who is to say how the company or the developers or (someone else) may be able to subvert it for nefarious purposes... Subtle changes may go largely unnoticed by the sheepish masses who comment on my photos, send me virtual drinks, and click on my lollipop. What then will we do when faced with an evil empire we actually helped to build? This may be just another instance of SOCIETY ADAPTS TO TECHNOLOGY: FAIL. Your mileage may vary: [YMMV].

Bobcat in the Back Yard

John Boal — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:14:23 GMT

This afternoon my son spotted another bobcat in the back yard, at the edge of the 10 acre wood behind our house. He is standing to the left of the log, in case you are having trouble spotting him... he blends in pretty well. We have seen these before, but it's fairly rare, and tough to get a decent photo. My wife did manage to take a few today though. He looks to be about 18" tall and about 26" long, by comparison to the log he's standing beside. Not even sure if it's a he really... We get all kinds of critters here in the suburban outback of Redmond. Haven't seen a bear or a cougar yet, but I think we got pretty much everything else.

I wonder if I got him a hammer if he'd finish the treehouse for me...