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November 5, 2021 – What Do You Say When No One is Listening?

November 5, 2021 /

I woke up this morning and the first thing that I read was a story by a local city counselor that resigned. You can read the story if you like and I am not going to try and paraphrase it. But to boil it down, he resigned over philosophical differences and personal priorities.

As I read the quotes by the different parties, the situation sounded hostile. But, I had to side with Counselor Day. He was the one that took a stand for right and also potentially suffered the consequences. It is easy to see on social media people acting in an echo chamber of similar beliefs or under the mask of anonymity using a screen name. What takes courage is to act on belief.

I have in my office a book by Paul Harvey called “Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor” which I have had in my possession since I was a in middle school. It was written in 1956, my book was printed for the bicentennial in 1976 and is about the risk this countries’ founders took by backing what they thought was right. It reiterates that the risk of publicly supporting independence was a potential death sentence. But even more so, most of the people that the book chronicles lost everything for what they believed.

I want to say that this book was probably ‘rah-rah’ patriotism. But, to me it is much deeper than that. If you have ever read the the story “Who Moved My Cheese?’ by Spencer Johnson. It is a cute, short story with a deep moral message about embracing change. Paul Harvey’s story is about people willing to stand on what they believe regardless of the consequences.

Let us not be fools and promote social suicide or even worse physical harm. You might believe that drowning cats is the best thing for the world because the kill wild birds and poop in your flower beds even though the neighbor owns the cat. Every action has consequences. What I am promoting today is having the courage to speak your beliefs and act accordingly. That also means tolerating other’s who let the ‘freak flag fly’. The anarchist non-aggression principal should apply here. Anything that does not harm others should be permissible.

With that disclaimer in place, we can get back on track. We all act differently when alone or within a close circle because the same behavior is inappropriate in all circles. It is knowing and understanding those boundaries along with the charge of presenting genuine self in situations that matter. I can’t say the number of business meetings I have left with the quote “Anyone have any further questions or comments?” to have silence. That is followed immediately by gossip and opinion.

It is unfortunate that my experience has led me to be jaded and mistrustful. Many (many, many, many) times I have found leadership to be unqualified or just plain poor. There is a delicate balance between trying to be firm and helpful and being obstinate. I know that my personality starts to shut down when conflict starts to occur frequently and I begin to write people off as potential to work productively.

I probably have covered this in the past, but I was very open about my unhappiness in my previous job with my employer. It was that openness that led me directly to quitting. When discussing the options with my boss, it was clear that what I wanted and what was were never going to merge for both of us. It was scary and it was conflicting but it was pure freedom. Here is the thing about freedom, we always hear about it like it is all sunshine and roses. Freedom has personal responsibility and accountability associated with it. We have to accept implied risk in order to reap the ultimate reward.

One last story here. Yesterday I saw a tall, chubby individual wearing a knee length dress and bright yellow t-shirt walking in a downpour across the grass toward the crosswalk. At first, I thought that this was a frumpy, young girl that lacked fashion forward clothing. Since I was at the intersection, I was watching what direction this person was walking so that I could do the right thing as the driver. Upon looking more closely, I could see extremely hairy legs and a mullet cut and I recognized that this was a male wearing a dress. There were uniform dolls and rainbow patches on the backpack solidifying my suspicion that this wasn’t a wardrobe mistake, this was a statement.

At first I was sad. I don’t know why God created individuals that struggle with their identity or their sexual affinity. I also think about future hardship with life living in a ‘normal’ world. But, then I had a slight change of heart. How much courage must it take to openly be yourself? Do I have the ability to be my true self? Would I stand for who I am because I feel differently than the status quo? I like to say yes, but here I am, another keyboard warrior typing into the abyss.

End Your Programming Routine: As I sit here typing, this one has taken a long time. I think about all the threads of life sort of coming at me in the last couple of days. The news and observations with the theme of being genuine might be a hint that I need to pay more attention. There are some situations that I am not exactly happy about but I haven’t done anything to change or address them yet. My tendency is to hope to weather the storm and that things will get better. That largely is often not the case. So, I have to decide if it is worth the risk or pain to be genuine.

November 4, 2021 – What Has Changed Since the Ice Storm in February

November 4, 2021 /

Yesterday, I had a conflict that left me away from home a large part of the day. I am also going to be travelling for business next week and I am not sure that I want to take a second laptop or not. Since I cant get this to work on iOS, I may be AWOL next week.

February 16, 2021 I wrote about lessons from a winter storm. One of my biggest holes were things related to energy. I didn’t have a lot of supplemental heat for comfort or electricity to protect my freezers for an extended outage. March 31, 2021 I wrote about the shortage of everything which now seems to be common knowledge. The linkage between those two was that I was having a hard time finding fuel storage namely propane tanks and fuel cannisters.

It wasn’t until mid-summer that I saw both of them come back. When they did, they weren’t at the prices they were before they were gone for months. So, as a good prepper watch the availability and price and buy when both are optimal and not needed.

The propane is flexible. With my little heater, it can run on 40 hours per cylinder. I also have adapters that can run the stove and other things. Combine this with my kerosene restocked (around 200 hours) and the fireplace we have way more supplemental heat potential.

I have been buying gas cans when they go on sale. This is to power the new generator that we have which was unfortunately part of Olivia’s inheritance. I really don’t have a clue about runtime here, but the strategy is all about rotation. The idea is to store the gasoline up to one year and then pour it into the vehicle and replace it. I have enough gas to swap it out every two months throughout the year.

Looking a little more long term, I still have on my list a couple more items. One is another inverter for converting vehicle power into energy. The idea is to have one inverter per vehicle so that they can be used as makeshift generators. I would also like to add a suitcase type generator because they are light and portable.

Also, I would like to build up a better supply of firewood as well. But, since we mostly burn in our firepit, most of my supply is actually garbage. Meaning, I largely burn off cuts and smallish branches from pruning. I am on the look-out for some inexpensive wood supply That takes planning and effort, so that will largely be an opportunity where I have the time to do it.

When thinking about a longer term outage, there are other considerations. For instance maintenance. The generator that we have was supposed to have the oil changed after five hours and then every hundred hours afterward. I am pretty sure the first change never happened and supplies are needed to run as long as you have fuel. I drained the fuel and then changed the oil so it should be ready to go.

End Your Programming Routine: “Two is one and one is none” is the preparedness mantra. In many cases I had one or none when the ice storm hit when it came to energy. Now, I am in the space of one at least. Flexibility and options rule the day when the cards are down. Fortunately, we have largely been fortunate when it comes to power outages over the years, As the saying goes, Fortune Favors the Prepared.

November 2, 2021 – Why I Continue to Hunt When My Success Rate is Near Zero

November 2, 2021 /

Over the years, I have shot three deer. If I started when I was eleven and now I am forty-six, that is thirty five years of buying tags and two of those were when I was still living at home. To be fair, I only hunted one year in college and I took a multi-year hiatus while I was getting settled.

I have always had an exploratory heart. I often wonder about the road that takes off the highway and goes off into the unknown. I fanaticize that this is some secret access point into the woods that no one knows about. But it goes even deeper than that. Today, I am sharing some of the things I saw last weekend to justify why I feel this way.

Have you ever seen spawned out salmon? Me neither. It is not super clear but the picture above is two dead salmon that have finished their lifecycle. They were born in this stream, went to the ocean for several years and came back to reproduce. Once that happens, they die. They were probably 24″ long. In fact, as I looked across the creek, I saw probably twenty of them in this one spot.

Pictured above is the Elderberry fruit. Normally, they are ready to pick around Labor day and it is highly unusual to see them this late in the year. Elderberry is high in Vitamin C and is prized in herbal medicine for it’s immune boosting properties. Outside of that, it is used for jelly, syrups and brewing adjuncts. Some day I want to pick a bunch of this and do something special.

How about a hiking trail in the middle of nowhere? At this point, I could lead someone to this spot, but to be able to provide directions would be nearly impossible. Roads in these areas are cryptically marked and there is a patchwork of tribal, timber company and public land. I don’t think this is the beginning of the trail because there is no parking, I pulled off the road to snap this picture. Who knows if it goes somewhere interesting.

The difference between private timberland and public land is stark. Above is a slash pile resulting from a thinning operation. That pile will likely be burned in the coming weeks. In fact, I saw multiple active burns while I was up there. Policy since the 1990s on public land has essentially left it to grow wild. In this area that is a patchwork of public and private you go from dark woods to very open and actively managed forest land.

End Your Programming Routine: Friday is the end of deer season. Saturday is opening elk season for some areas near me. In all of my years hunting, I have never seen elk during the deer season so I don’t bother getting a tag. The elk season only lasts for one week anyway. As I close out this year, I know that I haven’t put a ton of effort into being successful but I feel like I had some new experiences. I went down some new roads and have a better feel for what I want to see next year.

November 1, 2021 – What Is Going On?

November 1, 2021 /

This is again another test post. I am going between it seems like it is working on one machine occasionally but I have also gotten it to fail on IOS and a Linux installation as well. So, this is a quick test because my laptop is working again.

My support case left me with the problem being mine. I suppose the only change that I made between last week and today was that I rebooted my router over the weekend. I doubt that is the case, however it seems to be working today on my laptop but not on my desktop.

Since I am writing this on a wireless internet connection, I tried rebooting all of the wired switches in between for my wired computer, no dice. Combined with flushing the DNS was the last suggestion from support that I did over the weekend. I suppose the good news is that it enabled my laptop to begin to work again.

I am stuck here. Support says that it is my problem. The only discernible difference I can see is that my desktop is running Windows 10 21H1 and my laptop is running 20H2. But the other kicker is that the problem is not device and OS agnostic anymore. IOS 14.8 displays the same problem.

End Your Programming Routine: Troubleshooting is sometimes a very difficult process. For now, it seems like my laptop is working, so I guess I will ride that while I keep looking for the solution to the problem.

October 27, 2021 – Some Kind of Problem with Windows?

October 27, 2021 /

I haven’t solved the problem yet, but I was doing another test. I am trying another computer and things have resolved, at least temporarily. That means that the problem is either with the version of Windows or the browser.

I suspect that it is Windows because on my other computer I have the same problem with four different browsers Edge, Chrome, Brave and Mozilla. This computer that I am working on today has been off for several weeks and I have not run any recent updates at this point.

I am not going to get too deep today, but it is probably worth talking about troubleshooting for a little bit. As a software engineer and specifically in support, when diagnosing problems it helps to have a little methodology.

  • Systemic Execution- I have yet to open a support case because I don’t completely understand all of the variables yet. Unfortunately, I have learned that most consumer level support is rarely going to solve the problem for me. It is going to take effort on my side as well and I want to be as thorough as I can be with information before doing so.
  • Repeatable – What are the variables that cause this to occur? Can the problem be recreated reliably? Ideally, the problem is not intermittent (at least in appearance). Most problems are truly not random, but the unknown and unseen variables are in play and we are trying to solve a problem without all the known variables.
  • Isolation – Just like repeatability if possible, it is important to try and isolate the problem. In my case here, I have isolated it to at least one computer. So, I have a part of the problem identified.
  • Root Cause- This is the most important aspect of preventing the problem again as well as assuring the issue is really solved. This is also the step least likely to be completed. It is difficult to determine the root cause in most cases without a technical investigation. Most people are not disciplined enough to do it properly as well.

You could probably make the same case for using calculus to solve a math problem. Sometimes, it is really important to have the right and accurate answer and it is worth the effort to setup the equations and run through all of the math. Many times a close guess is almost as good and it certainly is a lot quicker and easier to do so. It depends on the depth of the problem and the risk of not solving quickly or completely.

End Your Programming Routine: It doesn’t matter if it is working on a vehicle or a problem with the computer, the steps are quite the same. It is what allows an amateur with gumption to solve complicated problems. If you find yourself with a difficult problem, try applying some discipline to your approach and you are more than likely going to learn some things as well as probably solve the issue if you don’t give up.

October 22, 2021 – Is This a Rant or is This Satire?

October 22, 2021 /

I am toying around with the idea of the Friday subject being humorous. Unfortunately, I felt last week wasn’t that funny and I cant decide if I want to go angry or satire here today. So, I am going to write and then we will see what happens.

In 1971, Oregon passed a statute where retailers would collect a $0.05 deposit per container sold. Consumers would return the empty containers back to the store for a refund on the deposit. It was colloquially called the Bottle Bill. At the time, it was unique and became part of the state’s identity. This was the state with no sales tax, you can’t pump your own gas, all beaches are public and containers were worth $0.05 a piece. You can read the article if you like for all of the history on the bill, but it was amended in 2011 such that if the total rate of redemption fell below 80% for two consecutive years, then the deposit would be raised by $0.05. In 2017, the deposit was raised to $0.10.

Having grown up in Oregon and being born after the bill was passed, this all seemed pretty normal. I lived a few years in South Carolina which didn’t have a bottle bill and my opinion started to change. Before I go too much farther, I am not anti recycling, It makes complete sense to reuse resources when so much sunk cost is already invested. I do what I can to make sure the materials are sorted properly and clean at my own home. But, if you have never dealt with the system, then what I am saying probably doesn’t make a lot of sense.

First, I will start with some constraints. When redeeming containers, there is a limit to how many can be redeemed at a retailer. That limit is 144 per day and traditionally, retailers would only accept containers that originated from the retailer. That meant that store brand A could not be redeemed at store B. So, containers had to be sorted by potential acceptance or redeemed at multiple stops. There is however no limit on how much deposit a consumer can pay in one transaction.

Most people, myself included put empties into a bag until you got tired of looking at it or you thought it was worth redeeming. So, that was a big hassle. Oregon created ‘redemption centers’ where people could return all containers. There, the limit was raised to 300 containers a day and in theory was brand agnostic. However, I have seen on numerous occasions that off brand or seasonal containers could not be read by the machine and would have to incur another step of hand counting.

With that, they also created a bulk return where people could simply drop of bags to be counted at convenience of the facility and put into an account. What most people don’t realize with this part of the system is that there is a limit of 15 bags per quarter and that bags may contain no more than 120 containers.

I happen to know that depending on the container, more than 120 can fit into a bag. What happens to the overage? It goes into a ‘store account’ or some sort of war chest for the redemption center. I found this out from someone that worked there. Me, as the one who paid the deposit, held onto the containers, made the logistical arrangements to return them and waited in line to leave them only get credit for less than I left. By the way, all containers must be in readable condition, meaning the label must be intact and visible.

Now, fast forward to March 2020. Part of the Oregon government response to Covid was to temporarily suspend bottle redemption (not the collection of the deposit). The only way to now return them was to use the bulk return option. This was in effect for most of 2020, things have slowly opened up this year. However, there is no doubt the retailers have gained the upper hand on redemptions as they have started limiting hours and further pushing the return limits lower.

The state thought that this program worked so well that they instituted another type program for paint. This time, there is a $1/gallon fee charged so that if you end up with leftover paint, the remainder can be returned back to certain paint stores for ‘recycling’. Now, they don’t really recycle. They mix compatible colors and types and resell the paint at a discount.

The problem with this program is that the transportation crunch has led the recyclers to stack up to the point that there is no room left to accept any more paint. Now, I cant even get rid of the paint. I have become particularly sore as I have been cleaning up the in-laws property as there was way too many extra gallons around.

End Your Programming Routine: As I stated in the beginning, I am not anti-recycling. What I am against is forcing consumers to pay for programs that don’t deliver. In 1971, curbside recycling was 20 years in the future. The bill was envisioned as a litter prevention program not a virtue provider. I don’t even blame the retailers for there reluctance, this is a mandate that has little value at this point. What I am saying is that it is time to end the feel good programs because in the end, the only people that feel good about it are the ones that are making the money.

Ok, we are at the end… I guess it was a rant. Still looking to end the week on a high note in the future. Have a good weekend.

October 21, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

October 21, 2021 /

Maybe I should called it the shit I forget plus some more bags of stuff Today, I am showing the remaining gear that I have for my hunting excursions. The question might be, why do you need so much stuff? The ultimate answer is comfort but there may be some additional nuance there.

What is comfort? It can take on some deeper meaning. To me, comfort is knowing you have something even if you don’t necessarily need it. So is also having it packed and ready to go where you don’t search and gather every Friday night. There are also some traditional definitions of comfort. Like, have you ever spent all day in the rain without rain gear? Talk about miserable.

As I talked about on Monday, some years we hunt five hundred miles away. The same bags/gear that is loaded for a Saturday is the same gear that go on the week long trips. I suppose that a very good argument could be made that excluding survival gear or strict protection like rain gear, all the rest is unnecessary. It doesn’t take a lot of gear to drive around in the woods and look over the edge of logging landings.

The technical term for these type of bags are called blind bag. This means that they are meant to be used in duck blinds which means that they are water resistant and they float. The bag on left is really used to haul decoys, so it is just a open container like a large shopping bag. I use this one to put my rain gear in and it is a catch all for anything that I just want to throw in, like extra water, change of clothes etc.

The bag on the right, is a little bit more tailored for hunting with places to put chokes and calls etc. If I ever went duck hunting, I may to look for a replacement of what this bag is carrying. Moving from top left to bottom right

  • Rope
  • Rangefinder 0-1000 yards
  • firearm cleaning kit
  • game bag
  • thermos (for coffee)
  • 3000 calorie ration bars

The rangefinder is going to go into my backpack and I mostly use that when I am sitting for a while. I like to pick out places in my field of view and then check the distance. That way, if some animal comes into my sight, I will have an idea of how to hold for bullet drop. I also use it to determine where to sit. Distance can be surprisingly deceptive sometimes and if the field of view is over a thousand yards, you are not going to be able to shoot without moving anyway. This is a luxury item for sure, but I find it really useful.

The game bag keeps the carcass somewhat clean if you were to drag it or you put it on if you are going to hang the animal for some time to reduce the chances something else will start eating it too. All of the rest of it is self explanatory.

End Your Programming Routine: You don’t need all of this gear to hunt. If I am honest, most of it never get’s used. But if you have ever bonsaied your rifle into mud (or snow) then your day is done unless you can get that barrel cleared. I hope to never eat those 3000 calorie bars. Some day I might taste one just to see. If I cant figure it out with all of this stuff, I am not sure what else can be done.

October 20, 2021 – I Am Such a Sucker for Techno-junk

October 20, 2021 /

Over a year ago, I was browsing at a second hand store and I ran across a Technics direct drive turn table. They wanted $120 for it. From what I could see, it was missing a stylus but I was unsure if it was really worth the price. After doing some quick research, it looked like they were going for a couple hundred dollars in working order. I went back two days later and it was gone.

Every since then, I have been looking for that diamond in the rough that I could get for cheap. My wife got this suitcase record player for Mother’s two years ago. We bought some records and I was severely disappointed. The best songs on the used records were ‘worn out’. They look in good condition, so I am hoping that by upgrading the player, I can get better sound out of them.

The other thing that bothered me about the suitcase record player was that it had a pre-amp built in. To plug it into my receiver, I had to use the non-phono jack and that bugged me. Also, it sounded distorted, to high end and not enough low end. I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile. But, I want to really hear what the buzz is about going back to vinyl. From my memory as a child, the sound was always as good as the radio, with more bass and a deeper and richer sound. I should still have some records at my parents house as well. But, as time and technology moved on and so did the record player so I don’t really have a comparison.

My family was shopping at Goodwill on Saturday and my son sent me a text of this turntable. They wanted $40. From what he could see, it seemed like it needed a belt replacement as the platter was not spinning. But the motor was turning. I again did some quick research and saw one was selling on eBay for $200 so I said go ahead. Knowing very little about this, I looked at it the next day and found that it was also missing the stylus.

Belts are cheap $5-10 but replacing a stylus is quite a bit more complicated (and expensive). First of all, the stylus needs to match the cartridge. Having no idea if this is original or not, I am strictly guessing. I looked at the manual and got the specs and ordered what I hope is a match. Otherwise, I am into it probably another $60-100 for a new headshell (that is the stylus, cartridge and carrier) plus I don know what I am doing when it comes to alignment.

I ordered two belts, one stylus and one ground cable. This will probably end up as a video as I get this going. I saw one video on the Toshiba SR230, it was just showing all the features. So, at least I have something to show me how it is supposed to work.

I am not done with the search for more techno-junk. I have always wanted to add a subwoofer to the surround sound setup. I am also on the lookout for a second set of speakers, to put closer to my bench in the basement. If I saw a receiver upgrade or possibly a smaller set of surround sound speakers I wouldn’t pass up if it was the right deal. Since I haven’t quite figured out my final setup, things are still up in the air. However, I doubt that I would pay $40 and another $50 in repair parts like this project but you never know.

End Your Programming Routine: I am looking forward to this, to a point. I like the feeling of taking something that isn’t working, figuring out why and getting it going again. I don’t necessarily need to be spending my time on this as I have lots of more important things to do. But, sometimes you have to prioritize something that you want to do over things that were started first or have a greater impact. It is that irrationalness that makes us human.

October 19, 2021 – Technology’s Tower of Babylon

October 19, 2021 /

Growing up in Corvallis, Oregon feels like a unique and special place for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) or at least it used to be. In 1946, four alumni from Oregon State University (also in Corvallis) formed an engineering juggernaut called CH2M. Eventually, this organization became one of the premier and largest engineering and consulting companies in the world (at least when I worked there).

Because of that, OSU became one of the top engineering schools in the country. This also attracted some other business, specifically Hewlett-Packard. They built a huge campus in Corvallis and for a period of time, this was the ink-jet capitol of the world. Probably some lessor known things about HP were that they established business making measurement equipment for Disney. They had an entire division of scientific and test equipment that was spun off as Agilent in 1999. They were also the inventor’s of the handheld calculator.

My dad started working at CH2M in 1966. Drafting was done by paper and ruler, but that doesn’t mean that the company wasn’t early adopters. A new headquarters was built in Corvallis in 1982 which included a basement with a mainframe computer. There was lots of crossover between what was happening at HP and CH2M including engineers using calculators and computers.

My dad said that his first calculator cost $500 which is over $1600 in today’s dollars. I think that was in the mid to late 1970’s. By the time the middle 1980’s came around, basic calculators were in the $5 range. Scientific calculators were still around $20 mark. HP probably should have seen the writing on the wall but their product was far superior in computing power and durability to the competition.

I bought my calculator, the HP48SX in 1991. It was a technological marvel at the time. It wasn’t the first graphing calculator but it was much better than the previous generation the HP28. Here are some of the functions.

  • Plug in adapter for power in addition to battery
  • Printer for output
  • IR communication between other HP48 calculators
  • Two expansion slots for programming

As a matter of fact, I even had games downloaded to the calculator. I had Joust, Tetris, Kong and Hangman. We are talking about an era that the Nintendo Gameboy had only been on the market several years. All this came at a cost, I paid $250 for the calculator. I bought a math module for another $100 that could do calculus.

What else happened in 1991? Texas Instruments introduced a competitor called the TI-81 for $80. I don’t think it was as nice or as durable as the HP but the cost opened the market for the masses. HP followed up with the HP48GX in 1993 and doubled down with more features (and cost). But, the damage was done. College classes started requiring graphing calculators and the TIs were sold in droves.

In the late 1990’s, when you started to compare the computing speed of the HP’s to the the TI’s, you started to see a real chasm. The TIs were getting faster, cheaper and better while the HP stayed the same. I wasn’t even aware that HP was still making calculators until I looked a couple of weeks ago. It seems like they have a color, touchscreen version now that is around $150. Last I looked in the mid 2000s, I didn’t see any calculators for HP.

End Your Programming Routine: I have a lot of hours on my calculator. It was a good investment for me; I used it through most of high school, all of college and into my career as a chemist. In retrospect, if I had known how the market was going to work, the math module was probably not a good investment and I could have easily gotten off with the cheaper, non-expandable version and saved $100. Doing calculus was really clunky and this could only do simpler calculations. Even with a computer, my calculations were taking over an hour. HP may feel the same way too. If they had known how the market was going to work maybe they wouldn’t have tried to build the best calculator but retain being the choice for the technology.