Nice little VBScript trick

To go from a path like this
D:\_pdf\a\b\c\foo.bar

to a path like this
D:\a\b\c\foo.bar

you can do this
sFile = "D:\_pdf\a\b\c\foo.bar"
sResult = Join(Split(sFile, "_pdf\",-1,1),"")

I just thought I'd share.

A half baked idea

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 slots? I think not... how about a 1000 memory slots and memory to, say, record the last hour or so of communications...
2) XML based configuration - It doesn't take much computing power to parse or create an XML, so why not have the whole radio's configuration stored as an XML file. Watchguard firewalls use an XML based configuration, and they have at least as much to store, and arguable much complex combinations of data to store in the XML file
3) USB - Serial ports? Really? I don't disagree that there aren't reasons for a serial port on a radio, but why must we bound to a serial port for configuration.
4) Keypads - most radios these days have dtmf keypads, why not make them available for text input, for labeling the memory slots.

I doubt anyone is going to read this and a tiny fraction of those folks will be HAM radio operators, but if you are and you have a clue as to what I am talking about, leave a comment!

73

Where do they get these guys from, anyway?

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 remembering him from the promos for the show, but as the show went on I became convinced that we had seen him on the fourth episode of Feasting on Asphalt with Alton Brown. We popped in the DVD and sure enough! Detective Chris Cognac. We don't have cable so we don't get to watch FoodTV very often, so I had no idea that Chris has been a judge on Iron Chef America, has his own show on FoodTV, and is a food columnist for a small newspaper in Los Angeles.

So all this brings up the question, is Amnesia going to be a game show for celebrities, or did they just get Chris for the first show because they could count on him for being a good showman?

Cider Update

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 because the must fermented vigorously for nearly two months. It has only just recently settled down and I will be racking it over to a secondary shortly. I will take a gravity reading on it again at that time, but expect that it will be at or below 1.000. I'll be tasting it too!

Big Moves

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 of some stuff!" I hear you say... Believe me, we had a pretty good purge before the move. In only just a couple of weeks, though, we've managed to fill 5 moving boxes full of stuff for the spring garage sale.

Gotta start thinking about how we accumulate "stuff"

Cider 2007 - Day 1

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 for about 4 weeks. Then when it is racked over to the secondary, and the yeast is all wiped out, I'll make up the difference of what is lost to sediment with some fresh, pasteurized apple cider. The cider has some of its own yeast, so it is pasteurized so the fermentation process doesn't take off again. All of the sugar in apple juice (cider) is fermentable, so we want to add some back to sweeten the end product.

I'll be back with updates!

Photos from the Boundary Waters

Boundary Waters Memorial Day 2007

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

A couple of Great Teachers

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 Buckeye football team on Mondays after games. He could get really wound up and was known to jump up on desks and flail his arms when he was trying to get a point across.

Ms Raub was a fun art teacher. Her most memorable art project was to make a product (with a twist). Her example a was a can of "Campbells cream of child" soup. It was the age of the atari 2600, so I decided to make a game cartridge for the Atari. It was the very popular AstroSeiths, with little Bill Seith heads being targeted by a spaceship. Mr. Seith got a huge kick out of it.

I moved away from North Olmsted just before Christmas and remember Mr Seith saying that he would really miss me in his classroom.

I've had a lot great teachers since then, but they were a couple of the most memorable.

Not your kid's tree climbing!

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 of ascent is to flip the rope up and over one foot with the other, locking the rope between the instep of the first foot and the sole of the second foot.

While I have been climbing trees for a little while, I came to it via rock climbing. I learned that the method I had been using is referred to as the Single Rope Technique (SRT). Another method of tree climbing is the Doubled Rope Technique (DRT). DRT is advantageous because it uses the mechanical advantage of a pulley. You pull down on one side of the rope and are hauled up with the other end. The photos are of some advanced equipment for this method. You'd be clipped into the lower carabiner. To climb, you'd pull down on the rope on the right, the pulley would tend the friction knot up until you stopped pulling, then you'd be held by the friction knot. While the tree climbers seem to "traditionally" use a Blake's Hitch, the one show to the right is a Distel Hitch.

DMM (Wales) was apparently showing this new pulley off, it seemed to be generating a fair amount of (heated) discussion when I found it. I haven't been able to find it in any of DMM's current online offerings.


Also note the the rope on the left has been spliced back on itself to form an eye, also the orange line has been sewn into eyes. Here is a closer look at the pulley.

I'll post some pictures of actual climbing tomorrow!

My Christmas List for 2005 - Part 2

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




• Available from REI, but not in the stores, probably available at the Patagonia Store on Grand Avenue


• Red, Blue or Green

My Christmas List for 2005 - Part 1

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 stick
It 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 card would nice... Get them locally, Amazon's shipping charges are ridiculous. They come in $15 and $30 denominations.


REI Granite Pants. They come in three colors, I'll take any or all... 36x34... But since we both work there, an $18 gift card would be just as appreciated. Heck an REI gift card of any denomination would be welcome!





The Oxo Good Grips i-Series vegetable peeler. There are two Good Grips swivel peelers, the "i-Series" is the important part in this case. America's Test Kitchen gave it high marks this season... I think you have to go to a specialty store like Kitchen Window or Cooks of Crocus Hill to get one.


And on a related note... A subscription to Cook's Illustrated Magazine would be fun. Or one of their cook books, such as Inside America's Test Kitchen or America's Test Kitchen Live!



Gadgets!!! No not Kitchen ones... Geeky ones!!

Like this: Ethernet crossover Adapter.

Well That's part one... No, really, there will be more parts this time, I promise!!!

More Time On My Hands

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. If I were truly bitter about it I'd post the name of the company, but frankly I probably should have gotten off my butt years ago and left on my own. I feel confident that this will all work out for the better in the end.

It makes it kind of awkward to assemble a Christmas gift list, when I know we aren't going to be able to give many gifts this year. None the less, a Christmas list will be forthcoming.

Another cool gift, belatedly acknowledged

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 food item to a precise degree of 'doneness' and do it time and time again.

The Thermapen has made several appearances on Good Eats and America's Test Kitchen but it is not listed in the equipment pages of Alton Brown's web site. We ended up asking him about it during the book signing segment of Alton's visit to the local Barnes and Noble this past winter.

Boundary Waters - Part 2 - Our Adventure Begins

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 Twin Cities on Friday afternoon, apparently along with a significant portion of the Metro population. I guess we knew that was going to happen. After a stop in Duluth for dinner, our last chance for fast food, we arrived at Sawbill Lake as the sun was setting. Sawbill Canoe Outfitters was still open so we picked up our permit, our boats and one more portage pack for the food.

SCO operates the US Forest Service Campground near the entry point, so we camped there for the evening, sorting out our gear and making last minute adjustments. In preparation for an early departure the next morning we took all the boats down to a holding area. No locks, no security, it's nice to be able to trust that people will be decent.

Saturday morning started cool and clear, the lake was pretty well socked in with fog until the sun came up. We cooked up breakfast burritos to get us going. Once camp was broken down and every thing loaded back into the portage packs, we were off! Boats into the water, paddles in hand, and we were heading up the lake into the wilderness.


The Sawbill Lake Entry point is near the lower left corner of this map scan, and yes there is a small sign on that island at the red and black border line. We were heading for the far north end of the lake and that 50 Rod portage near the top of the scan. Our first challenge wasn't the portage but rather the dinner. Yes, it was only 9am and we were being dogged by a meal we wouldn't cook for six hours. I had decided on cedar plank salmon for the first night's dinner and one of the preparations for that recipe is to soak the cedar plank for several hours so that it smokes instead of just burning up. I had the brilliant idea to drill a hole in the corner of the plank and drag it along behind us. Little did I know that it would act like something out of the Rapala catalog and dive spin even at a canoe's pace. Brenda and I struggled with dragging that darn thing for the first hour, unable to keep up with the other two boats.

Our compatriots decided to take a break and wait for us. When we finally caught up with them the discussion led to us taking he board out of the water, only dunking it into the water occasionally for the rest of the day. The difference was night and day, I could not have imagined how much of an anchor that board was! At least as far as the paddling was concerned the rest of the day was smooth sailing.

Reaching the end of the lake brought us to the second skill involved in surviving the Boundary Waters: Portaging. The first portage was 50 Rods long, and of average terrain, or at least what would turn out to be average. A rod is 16.5 feet long, yielding 320 rods in a mile. A rod is an ancient unit of measurement, perhaps only outdone by the cubit. Rods were originally defined as the combined length of the right feet of the first 16 men to come out of church on Sunday. A rod also happens to be about the length of a canoe, I suspect this is why the unit has persisted when it comes to portages. Brenda and I decided that I would take the canoe, and she would take the pack. That meant she was actually carrying more weight, but at least it was a little awkward than the 42 pound canoe. I knew 50 roads wasn't really that long, but as it turned out I wasn't really prepared for it either. By the end of that first portage I was huffing and puffing and pretty sweaty. Things were pretty awkward as we had yet to develop a system for unloading and loading the boats. Once we were back on the water, it only took a few stokes of the paddle before I had faith again that we would do ok on the portages.

The next lake was only a short paddle, and then another portage, this time 80 rods. Half again the distance of the last portage wasn't going to be too bad. A momentary pause somewhere near the middle and then I was at the landing ready to put the boat back into the water. Brenda and I were already starting to work out the system of unloading the boat at the start of the portage and reloading it at the end. We were back into the water and heading across the third lake of the day!

Pronunciation!?!

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: Quetico

Most 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 understanding that the residents of said province pronounce it ke-bek So it only makes sense to me that the wilderness should be pronounced keh'-tih-ko.

This has come to a head as I think I either severely confused, or mildly offended someone with my pronunciation.

Any Comments? Enlighten me!

Terminology

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 recommendations in the great book, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" is something to the effect of "You don't always have to be right." I have a hard time balancing that against using the correct terminology when I see those errors causing confusion in others. Maybe I just need to pick other times to be wrong. Sometimes I just gt tired of keeping my mouth shut.

Boundary Waters, Part 1

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 the Boundary Waters is by permit, and only at designated entry points. Each entry point has a daily quota of permits, and once that quota is met, one has to either wait or choose a different entry point. However, once you are in, you are free to travel anywhere within the wilderness.

Why am I writing about this? My wife and, plus two of our friends have set a date for a long weekend trip to the Boundary Waters this spring. I've gone camping before, many times, and I've gone paddling a few times, including a guided trip on the Upper Gauley River in West Virgina (but that's a story for another time). But this will be the first time that I've ever tried to put the two things together.

I'm very much looking forward to hte experience, knowing that I will be challenged, but believing that I will rise to the occasion My wife, I know, is looking foward to it too. She has long been regaled with stories of the Boundary Waters by her best friend, whom we hope we will be able to add to the excursion. She however is concerned that she won't be able to meet the callenge and that the rest of us will have to pick up her slack. I don't think she gives herself enough credit sometimes.

Why is the boundary waters so special? I guess I won;t really know until I am there, but it sounds like it is the fact that it is possible to paddle all day long and never see another human being outside your own party; to have a greater probability of seeing wolves or moose.

It's eight weeks until the trip, and in the mean time I have an auto race to help organize, and the largest single technology purchase my employer has ever made to coordinate. As er proceed with the planning, I'll post further updates, however, don't expect me to post reports from out there, I'll leave that to LivArneson and Ann Bancroft.

Someone linked to my Blog!

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 should get off my butt and add a links sidebar so that I can return the favor.

Competitiveness in the State of Hockey

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 Texas: Over fifteen thousand people will fill the Xcel Energy Center each of three nights of play to watch what will be for many of the student athletes the the highlight of their sports careers.

And so the discussion has been of late, what is the balance between involving a kid in hockey to teach them how to play a game, have fun, be active, and (for a lack of a better description) grooming them for the next olympic team.

The youngest nephew plays on an urban hockey association team. This association is commonly recognized for the diveristy of its players and the dedication of the parents. But the reality is, most of the kids in this association will end going to urban public schools, some of which may not even have prep level hockey programs. One of this nephew's friends plays hockey for a suburban club. This particular suburb is, historically, probably in the state's top 5, having, in 61 years, at least 19 appearances in the state tournament. I've seen my nephew play, and have watched him since he was first learning to skate. The other night during the first intermission, I had a chance to see the nephew's friend skate and play a little hockey. I was amazed at the difference in the general playing skills.

The next youngest, a cousin, is a freshman at another of the state's legendary teams. A team on it's way to another Class A championship. That team this year is made up mostly of seniors including the goalie. The nephew has played goalie for several years, and at one time played ahead of the current backup goalie. He could be in line to be the backup goalie on the varsity team next year. But like so many other 15 year olds these days, his attention is divided amongst the many diversions, electronic and otherwise, that his parents allow him.

I think in the first kid's case, casual participation can net significant gains in skills and ability. Not because of who he is, or the talent he may have been born with, but because at the level he is at he is learning skills. In the friend's case, he will be coached hard, but will probably fall off the bottom of the program before he reaches high school. In the third kid's case, it has to take significant dedication to the sport just to maintain one's place in the pecking order. Again, not because of who he is, or what he was born with, but because every other athlete at that level is honing and refining their skills, thus smaller gains make bigger differences.

So I guess I have to agree with my wife that there is nothing wrong with our nephew playing hockey, perhaps at a lower level than his friend, but "get to be kid" while doing so. I have to disagree with her about the 13 year old cousin though. He's playing at level in 'the system' where if he isn't willing to dedicate himself completely maybe he is just consuming resources that another, fully dedicated, player could use. At the prep level, should a kid train and play like his goal was the NHL?

I certainly don't mean to down play all the good things that are supposed to come with prep athletics, fair play, sportsmanship, and the like. But there's a fundmental difference between being out there to slap the puck around the ice and being out there to win a championship. I think at that level a kid needs to decide to fish or cut bait. If they aren't willing to knuckle-down, put away the PlayStation and dedicate their fullest effort to academics and their sport, maybe they should just be out playing on the pond.

And so the question remains, where is the middle ground, the transition point?

Which is Mightier? The Sledgehammer or the Pen

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 a steam-driven hammer machine in a bid to save the jobs of his fellow rail workers.

So unless you want them to hit something with a sledgehammer, ask for their "John Hancock"