tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90252762011-09-30T14:13:22.608-07:00Like the title says... random thoughts. No agendas here, just what ever I feel like writing about.JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-77671545955661542932009-04-03T08:46:00.000-07:002009-04-03T09:45:54.683-07:00

To go from a path like thisD:\_pdf\a\b\c\foo.barto a path like thisD:\a\b\c\foo.baryou can do thissFile = "D:\_pdf\a\b\c\foo.bar"sResult = Join(Split(sFile, "_pdf\",-1,1),"")I just thought I'd share.

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-15670668847526507482008-06-04T16:20:00.000-07:002008-06-04T16:33:16.180-07:00

I'm not talking about brownies in this case, though in many cases that's all the more cooking brownies need sometimes.If I we're going to have some say in the design of a new amateur radio transceiver, I think I would do a few things that none of the manufacturers seem to be doing.1) flash memory - I have a micro SD card from my GPS receiver that holds 2GB of data and cost under $30. 100 memory

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-35148083885879308412008-03-16T08:41:00.000-07:002008-03-16T09:11:21.461-07:00

My wife and I had just finished dinner and were doing a little channel surfing the other night when we came across the new "game" show "Amnesia", a game show take on "This is your Life". The first contestant was a guy named Chris, we missed the opening of the show so we didn't catch his last name. Almost instantly I felt I had seen him somewhere else. At first I wrote it off to simply

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-27209435581213099812007-12-17T15:21:00.000-08:002007-12-17T15:34:24.804-08:00

Shame on me, I didn't post about the second batch of Cider I put up this fall. In addition to 5 gallons of fresh cider, I added 1 pound of crushed (squished is more like it) raisins and two pounds of Brown sugar. While the sugar impacted the OG reading, the raisins added a quantity of sugar that wasn't really measurable from the onset. However it bacame clear that the raisins added sugar

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-66456060100002398402007-12-17T15:13:00.000-08:002007-12-17T15:21:02.873-08:00

You've heard the old saying "big things come in little packages". I'd have hardly guessed how much stuff we could have managed to get into our little old house over the course of 7 years. It's just as well we only went a mile when we moved, as it was it took a 26 foot truck, two mini vans, two trailers (well one trailer twice), two cars and a 10x15 foot storage locker."Maybe you should get rid

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-35925396588257969282007-09-15T12:34:00.000-07:002007-09-23T12:52:22.469-07:00

This year's batch(es) of hard cider start today.The first five gallons were purchased today at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market from Fireside Orchards. The fresh cider has a Specific Gravity of 1.051. It's a pretty simple process... I simply pour the cider into a carboy with a vial of Whilte Labs' #775 English Cider yeast, and stop it up with an airlock.The plan is to let this go in the primary

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-64247189252563814102007-06-06T20:24:00.000-07:002007-06-06T20:26:41.619-07:00

Boundary Waters Memorial Day 2007The photos were taken over the Memorial Day Weekend 2007 in the Boundary Waters.

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1161258786233643632006-10-19T04:36:00.000-07:002006-10-19T04:53:06.273-07:00

I went to two different schools the year I was in 6th grade. The first half of the I was in the North Olmsted Public School District. I two memorable teachers there, Mr. Seith, and Ms Raub. Bill Seith was my classroom teacher. Ms. Raub was our art teacher. Both teachers were great at motivating us, and they were both a lot of fun. Seith had attended Ohio State and would talk about the

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1154490115516712792006-08-01T20:03:00.000-07:002006-08-01T20:42:51.570-07:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to witness part of the International Tree Climbing Championships held this year in Downtown Minneapolis. The ITCC was held as part of the annual International Society of Arborists convention and trade show. We caught several heats of the Men's Foot Lock climbing. These guys were ascending 50 feet of rope into the tree in just about 22 seconds!! Their method

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1132333973030211732005-11-18T06:11:00.000-08:002005-11-19T20:46:14.540-08:00

Media:CDs Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream and Other Delights Bare Naked Ladies' Maroon Bare Naked Ladies' Everything to Everyone The Arrogant Worms' Gift Wrapped DVDs The American President The Princess Bride The West Wing - Third Season The West Wing - Fourth Season The West Wing - Fifth Season More Clothes:Patagonia Lightweight Capilene Boxer Briefs - Men's - Large

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1132289790186870322005-11-17T21:30:00.000-08:002005-11-18T14:53:05.210-08:00

Here's a list of things that would be nice to receive for Christmas gifts. They are not listed in any particularly logical order.SanDisk Cruzer Mini flash memory stickIt is also available at Costco (though not at Costco.com)The one pictured is a 1 gigabyte capacity stick, they are the best value right now. It's about $69 at Costco, Amazon's MSRP of $299.99 is totally out of proportion.An iTunes

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1132284195367336132005-11-17T19:23:00.000-08:002005-11-17T19:23:15.376-08:00

Like the song from Styx's Paradise Theater album said, "I've got too much time on my hands." After one week shy of six years, I was laid off from my full time job at the end of October. On the one hand, I at least have held a part time job at REI since April. So the days that I am not at REI building bikes and working on skis, I'm scanning monster.com, and the local papers, submitting resumes.

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1126646523577287052005-09-13T15:01:00.000-07:002005-09-13T14:32:03.736-07:00

If you are a faithful reader of the Random Bodger, you have noticed that I think my wife is pretty darn good at picking out cool gifts fro me. Well for my birthday she did herself proud by getting me a ThermaPen Superfast digital thermometer.This thing is slick, easy to read, and, well, as its name suggests, fast! It reads fast enough, and is easy enough to read that you can very easily cook a

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1117900125619880732005-06-04T08:25:00.000-07:002005-06-15T07:11:26.026-07:00

When last I posted I had every intention of posting more updates of our planning, before we headed North. That didn't exactly happen.It's been a week since we entered the Boundary Waters for a three and a half day adventure, and it is time to start writing down the story before it starts to fade. I did keep a journal of sorts each evening, and I'll be referring to that as I write this.We left the

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1113418447907882642005-04-13T11:53:00.000-07:002005-04-13T11:54:07.906-07:00

So I have learned that there is some dissent, at least between me and the rest of the world, with regards to the pronunciation of the name of the Canadian wilderness area to the North of the Boundary Waters.It is spelled thus: QueticoMost seem to pronounce it kweh'-tih-ko, the 'Qu' being like in "queen"Let me remind everyone that the Franco-Canadian province is "Quebec" it has always been my

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1108147233236529452005-03-26T18:13:00.000-08:002005-03-26T06:13:23.726-08:00

I've always thought it is important, when possible to use the right terminology when discussing, well, just about anything. Maybe it was my upbringing, one of the people who helped raise me was a technical editor of training manuals; maybe I'm just naturally anal-retentive.What's the difference between querying and polling. How about, "running a query" versus "running a report"One of the

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1111849009485752432005-03-26T06:55:00.000-08:002005-03-26T06:58:14.490-08:00

Many outside of the Upper Midwest have never heard of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), I'm pretty certain I hadn't before moving to Minnesota. The BWCAW is, in fact, one of the most heavily used wilderness areas in the U.S., at over a million acres, it is half again bigger than the country of Luxemburg. The are over 1200 miles of canoe routes in the Boundary Waters.Entry into

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1110901460041765522005-03-15T07:44:00.000-08:002005-03-15T07:46:52.753-08:00

In an attempt to determine if Google has ever crawled my blog, I found a reference to it on a blog called Small Thoughts About The World At Large. I'm flattered that Bean Frog would add a link to here, but I am also perplexed as to why! It's not like I have ever written anything particularly interesting. Only person has ever posted comments to any of my posts, but there it is, a link.I guess, I

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1110036829800295682005-03-05T07:30:00.000-08:002005-03-07T12:48:28.006-08:00

Having moved to Minnesota and being married to a Minnesotan, I now have several cousins and nephews who play hockey. They are 7, 13, 15, and 17 years old. This time year, the hearts of Minnesotans turn, not to thoughts of springtime, but to the Boys State Hockey Tournament in Saint Paul. Here in Minnesota the State Hockey tournament carries the clout of a high school football championship in

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1107528881198360472005-02-04T06:54:00.000-08:002005-02-04T06:54:41.196-08:00

It never ceases to amaze me, when asking someone for a signature, how many people ask for someone's "John Henry." I could go on for a while citing sources, but it's pretty simple: It was John Hancock with the flowery signature on the Declaration of Independence. John Henry, whose life is preserved mainly in folk lore was a railroad worker. By the most popular accounts he pit himself against

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1106325156372828722005-01-21T08:32:00.000-08:002005-01-21T08:32:36.373-08:00

As an occasional attaboy, my manager will give out a $50 expense account to individuals on his staff. I was the recipient of one of those recently. If you have read my other postings, you know that my wife I don't go out for sit down meals all that often. So as we had some "free" money, we decided to go somewhere nice. We decided on The Melting Pot, a national chain Fondue restaurant. Not

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1104957742154397622005-01-05T12:24:00.000-08:002005-01-05T12:42:22.153-08:00

My wife and don't often dine out. Sure, we grab a bite to eat somewhere if we have errands to run after work, but it's seldon that we go some place to "sit down and enjoy a meal". Last night however, owing to having a gift card that we knew "we really should use one of these days," we decided to go to "The Cheesecake Factory". Advertising? After were seated we started looking at the menu, just

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1104272974909712392004-12-28T14:29:00.000-08:002004-12-28T17:13:19.396-08:00

Minimum: Primary definition (formula 01.35.02.0001) While looking for articles by Stephen Wolfram, I came across his http://functions.wolfram.com web site. Intrigued, I started to poke around, and looked at the alphabetical index of functions. The Min(x,y) caught my eye.. Sure it's simple enough... Take two numbers and return the lowest. Pretty intuitive, in fact. But how do you prove it? The

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1104076292470404792004-12-26T07:51:00.000-08:002004-12-26T08:07:26.380-08:00

When adding items to an amazon.com wish list is free, you tend to add items that you think would be cool to have, but probably wouldn't go out and buy yourself. I have, for example, a Dyson vacuum sweeper on mine. This year I mentioned to my wife that it would cool to have an iPod, and I added it to my wishlist. I thoroughly did not expect to get one. Come Christmas Eve, when our family gets

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1103856175302216672004-12-23T18:42:00.000-08:002004-12-23T18:42:55.303-08:00

Hi, I'm JB and I suffer from bookstore syndrome. "What the heck is bookstore syndrome?" you ask. Bookstore Syndrome (BS) is the experience of completely losing any and all ideas of waht you might have been looking for. It's happened to more times than I can count. In fact I'm still carrying around a B&N gift card that I got for my birthday, just because ever time I go in there I'm

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1103765010477170332004-12-22T17:33:00.000-08:002004-12-22T17:38:05.683-08:00

Comic Book Resources - CBR News - The Comic Wire I'm no expert, but I think Straczynski do pretty decent job... I think if there is something that JMS is good at, it's the arc story. I was a fan of Babylon 5, but it was a love hate relationship. Sure JMS did a great job, but we were always left wondering if the stories could be better if JMS wasn't trying to do everything. He did (do them

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1102522220765326982004-12-08T08:07:00.000-08:002004-12-08T08:10:20.766-08:00

I'm often confronted with the heinous experience of Linux fans and their common (though certainly not universal!!) bigotry against anything Microsoft. I work with and support Microsoft products every day; I freely admit that Microsoft products are certainly not perfect, but I also don't go around preaching that Windows is great and Linux sucks. Today I found a posting on slashdot that I

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1100299498504006322004-11-12T14:45:00.000-08:002004-11-12T14:44:58.503-08:00

OK, People... You all rushed out and got the political candidacy signs to stick in you front yards, your windows, your fields backing up to major highways... Now, in case you hadn't noticed, election day was last week, and that means it's time to take down the signs! And all you politicos who had your underlings put out signs in empty lots, go pick them up too!

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1100009202710892412004-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:002004-11-09T06:06:42.710-08:00

Sunday night, the local PBS affiliate aired a film on "Independent Lens" called "The Political Dr Seuss" For many (of us) whe grew up with Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat early reader books, it came as a bit of surprise just how politically motivated many of his writings were. Sure, The Lorax is a not so subtle commentary on the evils of clear cutting, polution, commercialism and apathy

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025276.post-1099681464935894202004-11-05T13:10:00.000-08:002004-11-05T11:14:59.246-08:00

Well, there's a first time for everything isn't there? I'm not sure what I am going post here as time goes on, but I'll put something up from time to time. Do I have something to say, something that makes me get up on my soapbox and shout? Sometimes... It's late fall here in Minnesota and it's golden hour all day long, though the day isn't all that long! It's golden outside, and I balessed/

JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14727623778940351893noreply@blogger.com0