First there was Ed,
Then Farah,
Then MJ
But wait, there's more...
Monday, June 29, 2009
Didn't do Field Day
Missed Field Day for the 3rd year in a row.
Sheet rocking on Friday ran LATE - but we got started late, so I didn't get the 1st coat of tape up. Ended up doing that on Saturday AM, then had to spend the rest of the early afternoon running to Home Depot, and the local appliance place(AC in the den died last summer - time to replace it)
Sunday I went "Upstate" - aka the Kingston Area (West Hurley and Lamontville). The Ashokan was going over the spillway and the woods were WET. Nice party for Jane's graduation, and it was GOOD to see everyone. The last time I saw most of them was just over a year ago at Dad's Funeral. I normally get up there 4-5 times a year, but the last couple of years have been crazy. I hope to get up there (and to PA to visit with John and Lyn) a LOT more now that things have calmed down a bit in my life
Sheet rocking on Friday ran LATE - but we got started late, so I didn't get the 1st coat of tape up. Ended up doing that on Saturday AM, then had to spend the rest of the early afternoon running to Home Depot, and the local appliance place(AC in the den died last summer - time to replace it)
Sunday I went "Upstate" - aka the Kingston Area (West Hurley and Lamontville). The Ashokan was going over the spillway and the woods were WET. Nice party for Jane's graduation, and it was GOOD to see everyone. The last time I saw most of them was just over a year ago at Dad's Funeral. I normally get up there 4-5 times a year, but the last couple of years have been crazy. I hope to get up there (and to PA to visit with John and Lyn) a LOT more now that things have calmed down a bit in my life
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Field Day 2009
I was really really hoping to make it to Field Day this year, but last Friday I received an invite to a friend's Daughter's High School Graduation. This is one I will NOT miss. I hope to get to play some on Saturday, after putting a 2nd coat of taping compound on the spare bedroom ceiling at Mom and Dad's place
Look for KG2V as either a 1D or 1E (depends on how I feel) from NLI section (probably 1D)
Look for KG2V as either a 1D or 1E (depends on how I feel) from NLI section (probably 1D)
Dix Hills Soccer Tournament - A wet time
So, on Saturday, I took Hugh out to the Tournement. His club had 2 teams playing, and Hugh got to play with the more advanced players, despite not normally playing with them. (They were short handed, ended up playing with only 2 subs)
They won 1, lost 2, but played well
Sunday, Mary took him out, and they tied 1 (against the other club team) and lost the other game
Saturday, the Coach was happy, despite the record, as the kids played well, and tried. I gather that on Sunday, this was NOT the case
They won 1, lost 2, but played well
Sunday, Mary took him out, and they tied 1 (against the other club team) and lost the other game
Saturday, the Coach was happy, despite the record, as the kids played well, and tried. I gather that on Sunday, this was NOT the case
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Breakup Songs
Today I was listening to Matt Pinfield on WRXP, when Leslie said "Everyone has a breakup song"
WRONG
I married my childhood sweetheart, and we're still together
There is only ONE bad thing I can think of with marrying your childhood sweetheart - it's that they remember all the stupid things you used to do when you were a teenager
Mary, Thanks for puuting up with me for all these years
WRONG
I married my childhood sweetheart, and we're still together
There is only ONE bad thing I can think of with marrying your childhood sweetheart - it's that they remember all the stupid things you used to do when you were a teenager
Mary, Thanks for puuting up with me for all these years
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Air France 447
First, may the victims rest in peace
What worries me (and HAS to be worrying Airbus) - Have you looked at the photos of the wreckage? A nice ripped off vertical stabilizer floating on the water. Now where have we seen that before?
Oh yeah - American Flight 587 which crashed in the Rockaways when the vertical stabilizer ripped off an Airbus A300
Normally, when you look at plane crashes, you'll see that the "tail feathers" (Vertical and Horizontal Stabs, rudder, elevator etc) stay together, as that section of the airplane is fairly "beefy"
Another thing that worries me - from what I gather, Airbus and Boeing have VERY different ways of looking at "fly by wire" - I gather that with Airbus, the software will do what it wants, no matter what you want, with Boeing, you can override the software
Why is this relevant? Having actually read the AA-587 crash report, they blame the crash on the pilot making excessive rudder inputs, and ripping the VS off the plane, when he got stuck in turbulence. I don't buy it. We have a few pilots here - if you were stuck in an emergency/rough turbulence - you going to be doing much with the rudder? Ailerons make you turn, the rudder makes it pretty. I still believe that the VS was already parting ways with the A300 and the pilot was trying to compensate - that the turbulence of the previous flight was causing the plane to come apart
Now we have an A320, in turbulence, over the Atlantic that comes apart.. I'll bet that Airbus hopes they never find those black boxes
What worries me (and HAS to be worrying Airbus) - Have you looked at the photos of the wreckage? A nice ripped off vertical stabilizer floating on the water. Now where have we seen that before?
Oh yeah - American Flight 587 which crashed in the Rockaways when the vertical stabilizer ripped off an Airbus A300
Normally, when you look at plane crashes, you'll see that the "tail feathers" (Vertical and Horizontal Stabs, rudder, elevator etc) stay together, as that section of the airplane is fairly "beefy"
Another thing that worries me - from what I gather, Airbus and Boeing have VERY different ways of looking at "fly by wire" - I gather that with Airbus, the software will do what it wants, no matter what you want, with Boeing, you can override the software
Why is this relevant? Having actually read the AA-587 crash report, they blame the crash on the pilot making excessive rudder inputs, and ripping the VS off the plane, when he got stuck in turbulence. I don't buy it. We have a few pilots here - if you were stuck in an emergency/rough turbulence - you going to be doing much with the rudder? Ailerons make you turn, the rudder makes it pretty. I still believe that the VS was already parting ways with the A300 and the pilot was trying to compensate - that the turbulence of the previous flight was causing the plane to come apart
Now we have an A320, in turbulence, over the Atlantic that comes apart.. I'll bet that Airbus hopes they never find those black boxes
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Dix Hills Soccer Tournament this weekend
This weekend is the 2009 Ken Graff Jr. Memorial Father's Day Tournament. My son HUgh will be playing with the U-8s from Jigs Soccer. Should be fun.
Bencher BY-1 Paddle Mod
Monday, June 15, 2009
Wow, didn't realize it's been this long
Sorry about the gap, but I've been twittering, and facebooking
The good news - last time I went to the MD, I got my A1C down to 6.0, not half bad, but recently (last 10 days or so), my blood glucose has been high - can't figure it out
The last week - 10 days, the gym has been lagging due to work and not feeling great.
I'll have some ham radio posts SOON - have done some interesting things in the shop, some Ham releated and some shooting sports related
The good news - last time I went to the MD, I got my A1C down to 6.0, not half bad, but recently (last 10 days or so), my blood glucose has been high - can't figure it out
The last week - 10 days, the gym has been lagging due to work and not feeling great.
I'll have some ham radio posts SOON - have done some interesting things in the shop, some Ham releated and some shooting sports related
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Good Workout - and watch out for those carbs
Good workout today. I went to the gym expecting problems, as my left ankle was really bothering me, plus my left bicep was sore, but I had no problem.
One interesting thing, I've been going to the gym less than 1 week, and I had been doing some aerobic exercise at physical therapy, but my peak as well as average heart rates for the same treadmill workout has already fallen 10 BPM! Not bad.
Yesterday, I got home, to Hugh to soccer, and Anna to dance, then checked my BG levels - and they were higher than I would like (around 130). I was really confused, until I started really looking at the nutrition information for what I ate yesterday. First, the Sugar Free Lifesavers are NOT zero carb - arrghhh. There are sugar free candy that is, so I'll have to go get some. The other "Interesting" one was the soup at lunch. When you buy canned soup, Campbell's Tomato is one of the lower carb soups out there. At the company cafeteria, it turns out NOT to be the case, in fact, the other 2 options (Italian Wedding and Chicken Noodle) have about 2/3rd the carbs as the "Old fashioned Tomato" Who'd have guessed?
One interesting thing, I've been going to the gym less than 1 week, and I had been doing some aerobic exercise at physical therapy, but my peak as well as average heart rates for the same treadmill workout has already fallen 10 BPM! Not bad.
Yesterday, I got home, to Hugh to soccer, and Anna to dance, then checked my BG levels - and they were higher than I would like (around 130). I was really confused, until I started really looking at the nutrition information for what I ate yesterday. First, the Sugar Free Lifesavers are NOT zero carb - arrghhh. There are sugar free candy that is, so I'll have to go get some. The other "Interesting" one was the soup at lunch. When you buy canned soup, Campbell's Tomato is one of the lower carb soups out there. At the company cafeteria, it turns out NOT to be the case, in fact, the other 2 options (Italian Wedding and Chicken Noodle) have about 2/3rd the carbs as the "Old fashioned Tomato" Who'd have guessed?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Been a while
Been a while since I blogged, and a LOT has gone on. Besides the usual Holiday stuff in Decemeber, I just wasn't feeling right.
On Jan 6th, I woke up with HORRID abdominal pain - I mean BAD. I had my wife take me to the emergency rooom at North Shore LIJ Manhasset. I was admitted to the hospital with acute pancreatitis. I was there until Jan 20th (aka 2 weeks).
It seems that this was caused by an extremely high triglyceride level (14000 - yes that is the right number of zeros)
While I was in the hospital, they also discovered that I am a Type II diabetic. They DID manage to get rid of the infection in my leg wound, and I'd say it's about 70% healed now.
About 1-2 weeks after I got home, I started physical therapy, as I was extremely weak. That went very well, and I "graduated" on March 16th, in other words, when they did my reevaluation, I was too well to continue.
I finally got back to work on March 18th (yes, I was out 10 weeks)
When I got back to work, I joined the Reebok Gym across the street from work. So far I really like the place. I met with my personal trainer Spencer yesterday, and we setup a good routine. Today was the first weekday I missed going to the gym because my leg wound (remember that other 30%) was really aching. I may try to go at lunch.
On Jan 6th, I woke up with HORRID abdominal pain - I mean BAD. I had my wife take me to the emergency rooom at North Shore LIJ Manhasset. I was admitted to the hospital with acute pancreatitis. I was there until Jan 20th (aka 2 weeks).
It seems that this was caused by an extremely high triglyceride level (14000 - yes that is the right number of zeros)
While I was in the hospital, they also discovered that I am a Type II diabetic. They DID manage to get rid of the infection in my leg wound, and I'd say it's about 70% healed now.
About 1-2 weeks after I got home, I started physical therapy, as I was extremely weak. That went very well, and I "graduated" on March 16th, in other words, when they did my reevaluation, I was too well to continue.
I finally got back to work on March 18th (yes, I was out 10 weeks)
When I got back to work, I joined the Reebok Gym across the street from work. So far I really like the place. I met with my personal trainer Spencer yesterday, and we setup a good routine. Today was the first weekday I missed going to the gym because my leg wound (remember that other 30%) was really aching. I may try to go at lunch.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Project Valour-IT
Guys (and Gals)
What I think is one of the BEST charities out there is a group called "Project Valour-IT". They supply voice activated laptops to wounded service members (any service) - They are related to Soldiers Angels. Please give - and in the spirt of froendly competition, you can give with credit going to "your team"
What I think is one of the BEST charities out there is a group called "Project Valour-IT". They supply voice activated laptops to wounded service members (any service) - They are related to Soldiers Angels. Please give - and in the spirt of froendly competition, you can give with credit going to "your team"
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
APRS-SCS
Last week, the developer of APRS-SCS, John - KB2SCS announced that he was dropping all support for APRS-SCS, as it is written in VB6, which is no longer supported by "the boys from Redmond", aka Microsoft. At that time, John put the source code up on his Web Site.
I started to talk with John (he lives close by, and I really have to get together with him), and I think I'm going to take a crack at porting the program over to VB.NET.
This is NOT going to be a trivial port, and in fact, I've had a bear just getting the development environment up to the point I can compile the existing source (I'm there now - if you need hints, email me)
Anyway, John as agreed that I can "open source" the program.
I'm thinking that I'll put this up on Sourceforge (gasp - a windows app on Sourceforge!), and anyone who wants to contribute can.
The first issues that MUST be taken care of
1)The application uses what are called "old controls". These are .OCXs that Microsoft shipped with VB4 and 5, that were basically replaced by native controls in VB6, but were still available for download, but non supported. There is an "interesting" problem with the "Old controls" - they will not work in the VB6 development environment under Vista. (an aside, the VB6 IDE does not work in Vista64, but IS supported under Vista32)
2)The application uses a 3rd party OCX called "Socketwrench". There was a free version of this control, but there no longer is. Under .NET, we don't need it, the stream reader/writer classes can handle this for us
3)The VB6 and .NET graphics systems are totally different, and this will probably be the biggest part of the port
Anyway, I'd like to hear what you think, and many hands make light work. I'll need testers, reviewers, and even a few developers to help.
Anyone game?
I started to talk with John (he lives close by, and I really have to get together with him), and I think I'm going to take a crack at porting the program over to VB.NET.
This is NOT going to be a trivial port, and in fact, I've had a bear just getting the development environment up to the point I can compile the existing source (I'm there now - if you need hints, email me)
Anyway, John as agreed that I can "open source" the program.
I'm thinking that I'll put this up on Sourceforge (gasp - a windows app on Sourceforge!), and anyone who wants to contribute can.
The first issues that MUST be taken care of
1)The application uses what are called "old controls". These are .OCXs that Microsoft shipped with VB4 and 5, that were basically replaced by native controls in VB6, but were still available for download, but non supported. There is an "interesting" problem with the "Old controls" - they will not work in the VB6 development environment under Vista. (an aside, the VB6 IDE does not work in Vista64, but IS supported under Vista32)
2)The application uses a 3rd party OCX called "Socketwrench". There was a free version of this control, but there no longer is. Under .NET, we don't need it, the stream reader/writer classes can handle this for us
3)The VB6 and .NET graphics systems are totally different, and this will probably be the biggest part of the port
Anyway, I'd like to hear what you think, and many hands make light work. I'll need testers, reviewers, and even a few developers to help.
Anyone game?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sorry Bloggings been light
Sorry blogging has been light. My Dad passed away just over a week ago, and was in bad shape before that. Obviously Dad took precidence over the blog, and just about anything else.
RIP Dad - Bah, another old WWII vet gone
RIP Dad - Bah, another old WWII vet gone
Friday, May 23, 2008
Memorial Day
This Monday is Memorial Day.
It is the day we are supposed to honor those who gave all in the service of our country.
Fly your flag (half mast till noon, then full staff)
Thank a Vet
Remember those who gave their all.
Taps is played at 2 times during the day in the military. At night, signaling the end of the day, and during the day - signaling the end of someone's days here on earth.
Taps:
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
It is the day we are supposed to honor those who gave all in the service of our country.
Fly your flag (half mast till noon, then full staff)
Thank a Vet
Remember those who gave their all.
Taps is played at 2 times during the day in the military. At night, signaling the end of the day, and during the day - signaling the end of someone's days here on earth.
Taps:
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Not The Post but... Visual Studio on a Mac?
I still have not gotten my deep thought post written, the brain just has not been into it (hey, the leg has been bothering me, so..)
Anyway, I've been thinking about getting a new Laptop (the current 'personal' laptop is a PIII based unit...)
I've heard some good things about Macbook pros laptops runing Vista under either Parallels or VMWare. Have any of you had any experience running Vista/Visual Studio 2008 (and in particular VB.NET) on a Macbook pro?
Comments?
Anyway, I've been thinking about getting a new Laptop (the current 'personal' laptop is a PIII based unit...)
I've heard some good things about Macbook pros laptops runing Vista under either Parallels or VMWare. Have any of you had any experience running Vista/Visual Studio 2008 (and in particular VB.NET) on a Macbook pro?
Comments?
Monday, May 05, 2008
Bloggings Been Light
Hi Gang (I know I've got at least 3-4 readers out there, hey, that puts me well above average)
Blogging has been light, because I've been seriously thinking about a post. Last week, a bunch of different blogs posted about working alone and Agile/XP/TDD. I found it interesting, because this is for all intents the situation I'm in (department has 15 programmers, but mostly, we work alone - dumb, but)
Blogging has been light, because I've been seriously thinking about a post. Last week, a bunch of different blogs posted about working alone and Agile/XP/TDD. I found it interesting, because this is for all intents the situation I'm in (department has 15 programmers, but mostly, we work alone - dumb, but)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
AAArrrggghhh Legacy Code
Recently, I've been working on what is probably the "Ultimate" legacy/Brownfield application. It's a VERY important application for our business, or WAS, but the users are starting to find other ways to do their job. The problem is that the application in question is VERY hard to maintain, and management does not want to risk making any "non critical" changes. It's the classic "Big Ball of Mud" design.
Now no matter HOW many time's I've read Michael Feather's Working Effectively with Legacy Code, I can can never quite figure out how to make it work in this case. There are almost no seams to exploit. We have numerious routines that have a Maintenance Complexity in the 2000 to 3000 range. Of course these routines have no REASON to be that complex, it's just that previous programmers had a tendency to lump all sorts of things together that had nothing in common except that they needed to execute at the same time.
DRY? They never heard of it
The classes are just mirrors of database tables, and if a calculation needs to be done on a class or collection, the routine is usually inline in a form event, with "other" code mixed in.
I do find RefactorPro! to be a very useful tool, but even with automated tools, I have to take huge risks, just to get the code to the point I can start putting test harnesses on it.
Anyone else have to maintain a probram like this? The goal here is to get the application maintainable enough that I can start to add features to retain/regain our internal user base
Now no matter HOW many time's I've read Michael Feather's Working Effectively with Legacy Code, I can can never quite figure out how to make it work in this case. There are almost no seams to exploit. We have numerious routines that have a Maintenance Complexity in the 2000 to 3000 range. Of course these routines have no REASON to be that complex, it's just that previous programmers had a tendency to lump all sorts of things together that had nothing in common except that they needed to execute at the same time.
DRY? They never heard of it
The classes are just mirrors of database tables, and if a calculation needs to be done on a class or collection, the routine is usually inline in a form event, with "other" code mixed in.
I do find RefactorPro! to be a very useful tool, but even with automated tools, I have to take huge risks, just to get the code to the point I can start putting test harnesses on it.
Anyone else have to maintain a probram like this? The goal here is to get the application maintainable enough that I can start to add features to retain/regain our internal user base
Monday, April 21, 2008
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