Watching the big wigs

I had the opportunity to attend the ACA (Air Commando Association) renunion dinner last night. It was a special evening for a lot of reasons. The original general who started the 1st ACG was in attendance. Major General Jon Alison sat with his troops from WWII.

Gen Arnold directed veteran fighter pilots Lieutenant Colonels Philip G.Cochran and John R. Alison to build a self-reliant composite fighting force to support British Brigadier General Orde C. Wingate and his “Chindits” on long-range penetrations into Burma against the Japanese. By March 1944, this force was designated the 1st Air Commando Group (1 ACG).
These air commandos flew over hazardous mountains and jungles to find and resupply the highly mobile British ground forces in hostile territory. From these missions, the 1 ACG earned its motto of “Any Place, Any Time, Any Where” - a variation of which is still used today

There were a lot of current Air Force in attendance as well. Saw quite a few "stars". I believe there were 5 uniformed Generals in attendance, and a myriad of retired. The draw for all these "stars" was the speaker and honored guest, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz spoke to the group. I was quietly amused at how many active duty high ranking staff became ACA members in the last few months. I imagine the opportunity to sit with, hear, and talk to the highest ranking military officer in the Air Force doesn't come along very often.
I was incredibly impressed by Gen. Schwartz. He didn't appear to fit the stereotype of what one would expect from a career military man who sits with the President as part of the Joint Staff. When the ROTC presented colors and sang the national anthem he made a bee-line for the singer and shook his hand. His speech was on target, and well prepared. He generally addressed Gen. Alison and his group. This was to be their last formal gathering.

Whenever I attend these functions I am always impressed by the people. 300+ individuals who served us, their country. They are all almost to a one full of pride, strength, heroism, and commitment. Yet, they have no ego. They voluntarily chose to make their sacrifices.
It was honor to sit beside them.

Catching up on the old intertubes

Phew.. happened to look at this site and realized it's been too long again.

Soo? What's new.

I went to Colorado springs for a vacation. The pictures are up in the flickr account.

I had issues with my knee again, but no cyst/tumor, just muscle and tendon issues. Will be in physical therapy for a month or so.

Haven't won the lottery yet.

Back to two monitors on the ubuntu machine. Had to buy a new graphics card, but it made a huge difference in performance. On board graphics really sucked up the processor.

Nothing new in the garage. Knee pain and hot weather are the biggest reasons. Taking a 5% pay cut also hampers buying too many toys.

yea, nothing too exciting..

111 with a birdie and two pars

Dad and I played the Oaks on Sunday. We were able to get all 18 holes in without any rain. There was a lot of hate in the clouds around us, but it remained dry the whole time.

I had a great day on the course. I know 111 isn't a great score, but it doesn't completely reflect the change in how I played from my previous rounds on the Pines. I played double bogey golf with some errant holes on both sides of the scoring line to make the score what it was.

The Oaks course was not in good shape. Stepping back a bit, and realizing it was 'only' $40.00 to play it wasn't horrible. However the greens were in rough shape. Missing grass, noticeable patching of the greens, all the hole plugs visible. Most of the grass was brown. Someone told me that the Oaks had room for 14 holes, but they put 18 in anyways. I would agree with that. We played 18 holes in 3 hours. Only bumping up against the foursome in front of us two or three times. We were only rushed on one hole. However, with fairways separated by a single line of oaks, there was some delays as balls crossed fairways. It's obvious that little attention is being paid to this course when compared with pines. Still, $40.00 is pretty cheap, and it is a muni. The Oaks is a more challenging course than the pines, but it's also uglier and more claustrophobic

Not a complete play by play, but here's the day:
1st - Par 5 - 7 - 90 degree in mid air drive which just cleared the girl tee into the woods. Batted a couple shots in the trees then made it to the green with a good putt.
2nd - Par 3 - 4
3rd - Par 4 - 7 (Putting - extra approach)
4th - Par 5 - 11 - OMG, this hole was insanely aggravating. I hit a decent drive, but it clipped the top of a tree, and sent my ball into some fir trees and against a net. I punched out into another tree which ricocheted into the neighboring fairway. Two more shots off their fairway to get back onto mine. Infuriating because the shot that finally made it through the trees landed in a fairway bunker. I clipped the shot high on the ball sending it wide right of the hole. Two chips on to the green.
5th - Par 4 - 4 - First par of the day, and glad to get it after the previous hole
6th - Par 4 - 5 (Putting)
7th - Par 3 - 7 - Out of bounds on the first shot. Hitting 4 to get on the green...
8th - Par 4 - 6 - This was actually a saved double bogey. I hoseled my second shot bad.
9th - Par 4 - 5 - (Putting)
Out in 56
10th - Par 4 - 6 (Approach and putting)
11th - Par 4 - 9 - Another one where I played the wrong fairway. There are three water traps on this one. Two were dried up, but I ended up missing all of them. Once i got to the green, I just played ping pong with the edges of the green and chipping. Lost three strokes to chasing the chip.
12th - Par 5 - 5 - Woohoo! Second Par on the second hardest hole of the course. Great drive which clipped the corner. I didn't have a club to get me on the green, so I went down a bit hoping to come 80yards short of the hole to give me an approach shot I am comfortable with. I nailed it, but didn't know there was water (hidden by a hill). Luckily the course was in such bad shape the water receded enough I could still play it. I punched it out of the water to the edge of the green, chip and a putt and I was out!
13th - Par 3 - 6 - Silly hole for me. Pin high but way left, then chipped around the green a few time for no reason...
14th - Par 4 - 5 - This one was amusing only because my drive was 80 yards off the hosel. I hit a 3 wood to within 20 yards of the hole.
15th - Par 4 - 5
16th - Par 4 - 8 - Horrid drive, good second shot, but right behind a tree. Third shot clipped the tree. 4th was a punch out. On the green with the 5th, 3 putt.. =(
17th - Par 3 - 2 - First birdie for me. It's a short (118) Par 3. Pin was in the front. I landed my ball in the middle of the green (inch behind the middle pin position) and was able to sink a 20 ft putt. The last 1/4" of rotation it had left was in the hole.
18th - Par 5 - 9 - Not a great ending. I had dialed in (mostly) my driver and hybrid. I had a great drive, but somehow wildly shanked to the right into the woods. Third shot I actually had a lane to the hole. I clipped a tree top and it bounced into the fairway. 4th shot was the right length, but in a bunker. 5th shot was 4ft out of the bunker. 6th on the green, then 3-putt. Very silly hole.
Out in 55 for a 111

Workshop projects

I spent the weekend 'off the grid'. It was a nice break, only checking email two or three times, and watching television during dinner.
Saturday was yard day, and shopping day for the Sunday projects.
Sunday was great. I spent the entire day in the garage building stuff. While spending 10 hours in a hot garage breathing rust and weld particles can be tiring, it's soo much fun to see something come together at the end of it.
I recently purchased a metal craft workshop and needed a place to setup the tools. Our garage is a two car garage, but we really only have room for one car. The dog wagon is relegated to the driveway. The two cars are just too big to both fit, even if I didn't have tools spread around the perimeter. The metal workshop is centered around a scroll bender. The issue I ran into was that anything to be scrolled defined the radius of a circle required in space. A 3ft stock required a 6ft. diameter circle. This meant I couldn't setup a workbench against a wall. I needed to work in the center of the garage. This isn't conducive to parking a car. =)
The solution was to create a rolling workarea. Almost all my workstations in the garage use a wheeled solution. My welding table is on wheels. My radial saw is on a cabinet with wheels. Welder is on wheels. You get the point.
The issue with this new rolling work area is that it needed to be stable once it was in the center of the garage. Pulling metal around the scroller would just turn the cart in a circle. Locking wheels were an option, but I wanted to experiment.
I went through a couple of design ideas and finally settled on a dual lever setup.
The final implementation works very well, and only added about 6" to the width of the cabinet. I am now able to roll the cart out to the center, raise the wheels, and work.


The metal stock came from a huge drying rack Paul was able to scavenge. I have used pieces off it for a year or more.

First step was to cut all the stock down to the right sizes.


Second step was to drill the 1/2 holes for the all-thread rod which passes through the cabinet.
This was done in three steps. The final 1/2 hole was the worse. Used 1/3 of a bottle of oil to keep the bit lubricated.


Next step was to weld the rear lever to the pivot point. This double height setup allows the rear lever to sit on top of the front lever flat which was a key design to allow a simple mechanism to lock the two in a wheels down position.


With the arms completed, I moved back to the cabinet. The holes in the lever are 1.5" from the edge. I located the 1/2 rod 2" from the bottom, and 2" from the cabinet edge. This allows the levers to rotate in a complete arc. The image doesn't show it, but in the final build I added fender washers between the nut and the cabinet casing.


With the threaded rod installed, I tested the fit of the levers and determined where to place the wheels. I ended up just picking a random placement just forward of the hole for the threaded rod. Next step was to weld the casters to the levers. Unfortunately welding the caster burns out the bearings. Makes the swivel less than smooth. This doesn't matter much since it's moving across less than 10ft of floor.


Getting to the last of the build. I installed the lever arms with the casters. Using jamb nuts to lock the outer nut on. The wheels rotate up off the bottom and the cabinet sits on the floor. The weight of the 'stuff' inside it and the friction of the base on the floor is enough to stabilize it for scrolling.


To move the cabinet, I just lift the edge of the cabinet up a few inches. The weight of the levers rotate the wheels down. I built a little clip (using the metal craft tools) which slips over the outer two levers. It locks the wheels in the down position. Not pictured is a small tack weld on the clips. They worked without it, but I was in a welding mood.


And now the cabinet fits back in it's original location!


The metal workshop tools were installed on the top. That was it's own stroke of luck. There are four tools in the version I bought. A shear/punch tool, square brake, circle maker, and two different scrollers. The scrollers require a clear radius over the other items. I mounted them on a 2x6 platform. I got lucky in that the box allowed me to mount both scrollers on one box. To use the smaller one, I just rotate the box, add a 2x4 shim and they are both locked against the braces on the top of the cabinet. To use either the shear or square brake, I remove the box and I have enough space to work.

My other project was a tow dolly for the tractor. I had to relinquish the camera to Jeanette since she was going to see the newest addition to her family. I did manage to snap some pictures of the progress at the end though. I will have another post about it later.

New Computer setup

Thought I would share my new desktop setup at the house.

I work out of my home, which has it's advantages and disadvantages. We have 4 active computers in the house, my personal computer, my work computer, and one each for Jeanette and Hannah. Added to the network is a VOIP phone through packet8
With working from the house the separation between a work and home computer wasn't that easy. I use a dual screen setup and if I wanted to do something off the work computer, I had to physically move to a corner of the desk, and be 'stuck' with one monitor.

My personal computer is a desktop with Ubuntu 8.10. It's setup with a raid drive which all the computers in the house back up to. We store our music there as well. I have been running this machine for a few months, testing and playing with it to make sure it was stable.

The new setup is pretty sweet for me. I reduced my desk footprint, and have a more efficient (for me) working environment.

Primary computer is the Ubuntu machine running dual screens. I am using the open source ATI driver for this. I loose compiz and other accelerated graphics, but that's not a big deal. I couldn't get the flgrx driver to run BigDesktop. Maybe the better way to put it is I gave up. =) I am still fighting some contrast/brightness issues with the VGA monitor in this setup. The VGA monitor is 'washed out' on the subtle colors. I am considering purchasing a NVidia card with dual DVI heads + TV at some point. The current x1200 ATI is an on board card.
I setup VirtualBox to run an install of XP Home which I had left over from Hannah's laptop. I converted her laptop to Ubuntu several months ago. I have to run a windows setup for work. VPN, Outlook, Intercall, etc are still windows only, or more appropriately they run smoother on windows. I know about evolution, and can run intercall in a wine setup, but the virtualbox setup was dead simple.
I still have a laptop from work which sees use when I travel. I couldn't completely scrap that one, so I have it running as well. I access that from the Ubuntu machine through rdesktop. I have a webcam for conference calls which I have not successfully integrated with Ubuntu yet. Really haven't tried that hard either.
With Gnomes window switcher I keep one of the desktops with a full screen of the XP Home, and the other with the rdesktop to the laptop along with a browser.
The great feature here is that I can run another desktop with my current projects files. It's a clean screen focused only on that task. One click and I am back to the email/windows environment.

To coordinate all the files, I use a few different methods.
The Virtualbox XP Home is 90% to run Outlook. I use google sync to sync my calendar to a gmail account setup for work related items. I can view that gmail calendar from anywhere.
My files are saved to the RAID drive on the Ubuntu machine through shared folders. This keeps the VirtualBox XP setup 'clean'. I could loose that setup completely and not loose any files at all.
The laptop uses synctoy to synchronize it's files with the RAID on the Ubuntu machine. Every night it grabs the updates made during the day. Of course it still has Outlook installed, so I try to run that every night to catch up on the IMAP updates. Even if I forget, it will catch up the next time I run it. My emails are remote. The laptop also has Google sync on it, but it syncs read only to Jeanettes calendar so she can see what times I have appointments. Helps if she is planning things.

So I am now protected from any one of three failure points. If the Ubuntu system completely and totally crashes I only loose that days files, and can switch to the laptop.
If Virtualbox XP crashes I can switch to the laptop, or the primary ubuntu machine (accessing email through the web). If the laptop crashes I have the Ubuntu machine.
The laptop can be taken off the dock and used at any time and have the most up to date files as long as I run synctoy just before it.

The best part for me is that I can shut down Virtualbox, and not feel guilty for doing my personal work. I am not on a company computer. I can test applications, work on personal projects, etc. without worrying about uninstalling or such. However, I am just one rdesktop command away from using the laptop to "get back to work".

There are still some todos to work out:
* VGA wash out. - This is an OCD issue for me now. I know it's possible to fix. I will either buy a new card, or learn whatever language is required to write a new driver.
* Archived emails are on the laptop. Single point of failure, but in the end not horrible. Archived emails are 12 months old.
* Clunky access to files in Virtualbox. Windows defaults to My Documents which is empty. Need to investigate how to remap that without having a domain controller.
* Speakers. Only an investment in new ones will fix this. I have ferritte cores on the wires, but cellphones, wireless routers, sun flares cause an incessant clicking.
* Volume control from keyboard. I didn't realize how much I used that in the windows environment. This is another driver thing possibly. Have not investigated.
* Webcam on Ubuntu. - All the required stuff is installed, but it's not recognized.
* Tinker with xorg and properitary driver to get compiz and potentially brightness/contrast controls while maintaining dual monitors/one screen. - I played with this for several hours already. I can get it working all the way until gnome loads (i.e. login splash and intermediate). I can get dual monitor/one screen but then gnome won't load and one monitor get the black "X" cursor..
* Setup 'ghost' from my primary drive on Ubuntu to the RAID so I can have a drive failure on the primary (or goober up the OS as I did with APM stuff) and get it back.
* Setup 'ghost' from the work laptop as well. I would like to system restore it back to day one, but then I loose one of my redundancy.
* Setup a USB drive backup of files so I could have a lightning strike kill all the computers and still work once I get a computer back. (This also serves my desire for a netbook for Christmas).

Golf killing me at the range

Went to the range last night after making some changes to my swing thought. I realized I wasn't dropping my right shoulder.
Took a 8 iron and 6 iron and got 90 balls or so. I went through maybe 60 with the 8 iron. Maybe 10 of those were 'bad' shots. All the bad shots were short as I skulled the ball. However, the good shots were freaking sweet. I was dropping them around 130 to 140 yards with the 8 iron. Rolled out to 150 to 160 for a majority. I was stoked. This was a 20 yard improvement from several months ago.
In comes the 6 iron. I am thinking I can drop it around 160 to 170 and roll out to 180. 200 is where my driver lands, so this is massive improvement. No dice though. 6 iron was dropping 120 yards, with roll out to 140. I couldn't hit a 6 iron farther than my 8 iron. I thought I was crazy so I went back to the 8 iron. 140 yards, rollout to 150.
Swing changes after ingraining bad swings for two years is a tough thing to do. I am not getting my hips around in time with my shoulders. Still trying to 'arm' it through the ball.

Next trip, I am going to slow down the swing. I would be happy with 8 iron to 140, and 6 iron to 170. Will see how it goes.

Brainwashed....

What the fuck? Listen until the end.

via: http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904070031?show=1

Weekend update with Lowes and Tractors

Phew... What a weekend.
I did a fairly good job of being a normal person on the weekend. I.E. not working and doing stuff other than computers!

The week before last we bought a used lawn tractor. It was too good of a deal to pass up. Our old push mower was seeing it's last days. The lawn tractor was a little less than $400.00 bucks. 15HP Craftsman w/ 42" mower + baggers. The bagger system was $300 new. The mower, while several years old was close to $1,500 new.

This last weekend, we had the first chance to play with the mower. Of course, being me, there were issues. The battery was completely dead. This isn't uncommon with lawn tractors if you leave the seat down. I didn't make that mistake though, so I was confused as to why it happened. I put a trickle charger on it, and went about my business. 2 hours later, still nothing. Took the battery out with the assumption that it was dead. It was, but it also sitting in water about 75% of the way up the side. The drain in the battery box was clogged, and presumably the previous owners had cleaned it before we bought it.
New battery bought and installed, and it still was hesitant to start. Never seen it before, but it acted like the motor was seized. Eventually it got past the 'hiccup' and started. We were off to the races!
I started in the backyard for two reasons. One, the front yard isn't much of a yard. With a push mower, it's about 30 minutes to do. The backyard however takes about an hour or more. The other reason is the backyard is completely fenced. If I took off out of control there was a fence to stop me (or at least slow me down enough i could jump off).
The mower is sweet. It vacuumed up the leaves with ease. We spent a total of 3 hours from start to finish of the whole yard. This included an hour and a half break in the middle to trim puppy nails and hang out with Jeanette's dad.
In that hour and half we pulled 12 or more lawn bags of mulched leaves and grass. I ended up mowing the front of the neighbors yard where it comes around the bend in the road. I mowed the strip of grass in front of our property next door. It was a blast. What a wonderful tool. It's overkill for our current yard, but it was an amazing reduction in effort.

The biggest issue was where to store it. While it might weather sitting in the yard in the rain, I don't think it's the best for it. We now needed a shed or something to cover it.
Jeanette's dad had a temporary carport setup he brought over. It's a series of pipes with connectors which builds a huge covered awning (10' tall, 10'wide, 16' or 24' deep). The only issue was that it was missing the covered part. We thought we could work out a tarp/canvas solution.
The second project was to re-engineer the gates to the backyard. With the wider mower, we have to open both doors to the gates. The presented a problem as we usually just used one side. The gate is 8' wide, and the right one was usually stationary. Now with both being opened and closed the dogs have a way out through digging on the right side. Solution idea was to create a concrete transition which would securely hold the right side door.

Off to home depot with the trailer we went.

Left home depot with the trailer we did. Home depot sucked. Well, actually the tarps at home depot sucked. No matter how we figured and finagled, we couldn't work out a series of tarps which would cover the awning. The less than optimal solution we came up with required 5 of a specific sized tarp. They had 3. They were $40.00 each.. $200.00 for tarps (even if they had them). Hrrm..

Off to Lowes we went.
Lowes happened to have sheds setup outside. We went looking. We were surprised. They were cheap. $500.00 bucks for a metal shed, 10' x 12'. Hmm.. Well after noodling on a bit we decided to buy this shed from lowes. The cost (shed + other material) was more than the tarps, but 1/2 to a 1/3 of what we considered it would cost to build a wood shed. It would last at least 2 or 3 times the tarp solution, and was prettier. We committed to putting away a little each month toward a wood shed/planting/storage thing. We will at some point double the size of the backyard by clearing the underbrush on the property beside us.

OK, now the fun starts. The shed requires a base to build it on. 2x4x12, and 3/4 plywood solves that problem. The wood can't rest on the ground due to rot and termites. Concrete blocks are required.
We still had the transition to build for the gates. Concrete doesn't go far. 800lbs of concrete was needed. (8' x 4' x 3"). Pea gravel will be mixed with the concrete.
For randomness (remember it is us we are talking about), we also wanted a grill. Ours died a year ago, and we miss it.

Here is the math so far on weight:
800lbs of concrete
14 half sized cinder blocks
(8) 2x4x12 pressure treated
(5) 3/4 plywood pressure treated
(6) .5 cu ft pea gravel
shed. metal shed.
grill

I initially loaded all the concrete in the yukon thinking all the flat stuff would go in the trailer. The trailer is only rated at 1,500 lbs. Trailer tongue at 2,000. After loading the concrete the trailer tongue was only about a foot off the ground. The tires of the Yukon were bulging.
After loading the wood on the trailer I decided to move half the concrete on to the trailer to make it 'pull' weight and not 'push on the axle' weight.
That worked, and then we got the shed itself. Somehow a 10'x12' shed fits in a 12', by 4', by 4" box. It's a lot weight in a small package.

The Yukon actually did great with it. The slack between the hitch, and trailer was a bit disconcerting and I had to be careful easing off stops, but it worked.

Half way home, I find out that one of the dogs has to go to the vet on Monday. That means the Yukon needs to be empty. The order of where things need to go is trailer and shed materials first, then the concreted at the gate. Concrete can't be put outside since rain makes it stiffen up a bit.
Sooo... after loading 800lbs of concrete, moving 400lbs of it, I have to unload all 800lbs of it into the garage. Eventually I will need to move all 800lbs of it again. Will have moved 1.5 tons of concrete before it's done. =( Will take pictures during the build process.

In the end it was worth it. We had discount cards with lowes (randomly in Jeanette's purse...).
We have still spent less for the tractor and it's house than a new lawn tractor, and will now be able to empty out 1/3 of the garage, our crappy lean-to shed, and store the tractor. The yard looks great as a result too.



Now I just need to get grass to grow so the mower is mowing grass instead of weeds and leaves.

My own round of golf.

Well hell! I have been posting my guesses on the Accenture, and forgot to post about my own golfing.

I bought a new set of Nike Victory Red Irons. I had no idea they were the new irons being touted by Tiger. He plays the 'blades' while I play the full cavities.

We went out on Sunday and played 18 at the Pines. It was fairly cold, about 50 with a 10 to 15MPH wind that seemed to come up and down randomly.

I shot a 116 which is my worst out the last three times I went. However, it was a failure across all the clubs.

First tee I spent 3 strokes in the woods. Actually had one go behind me after hitting a tree. Second shot went into the bank of another tee box. Got up and down though pretty well.

Second tee was another one where my tee shot just sucked. First one was lost to the right. Second one in the trees. Third shot stayed in the trees as well.

My round actually fell apart the worst coming down the end of the first 9. I was 6 strokes over those last 4 holes the last time I played.

I hit one in the water on a par 3, with my follow up going over a bowled green.

I did end up with two par holes, which was the first for me (having two in one round). Those came on the back 9 where I shot a 56.

My best hole was a long (for me) par 4 with a water carry before the green plateau. Driver off the tee for about 200 yards, then a 3 wood for 190. Setup a nice 7 iron to the green where I putted in for par.

Went back out this week a couple of times to the driving range to give me some more time with the new clubs. Realized that a smooth, less arm muscled swing makes the difference. Being a tech goober, I went into Google Earth and 'played' the holes using my yardage. It's possible with two putts on every green for me to shoot a 73. That's with a 200 yard driver, and 6 iron at 130 yards. Accuracy is soo much more important then distance. I am going to take that to the course next time. I think I can break 100 with this new knowledge.

Dad broke 100 for the second time as well. Two more rounds and we can have official handicaps. Being even more of a geek, I have an excel sheet with auto calculating handicaps based on all the local courses. =)

Accenture - Next Round

Well, I didn't do so well in the last round. Decided to stick to my guns in the guessing this time

Here it goes

Bobby Jones
- Clark
- Villegas

Gary Player
- Poulter
- Casey (great match to come)

Sam Snead
- Fisher
- Wilson

Ben Hogan
- Els
- Cink

Taking the guess a bit farther.
Jones Division
Villegas will beat Clark

Gary Player
Poulter will beat Casey

Sam Snead
Fisher will beat Wilson (Good match up though)

Ben Hogan
Els will beat Cink

Final Match ups
Villegas against Els
Villegas will win

Fisher against Poulter
Poulter will Win

Leaves the final pairing to be Poulter and Villegas
Picking Villegas over Poulter to win the whole thing.