Michael's Weblog: November 2005 Archives

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November 28, 2005

So Fresh and So Clean Clean

Apparently the bluetooth headset for my blackberry, which isn't cheap by the way, was dirty and needed to be washed. What better way to clean it than leave it in the pocket of my jeans (yes, I have a pair of jeans) and send it through the washer and dryer. I've washed the wired headset before with no problems, so it should be okay, right? It fell out of the pocket this morning while I was folding clothes. Serves me right for actually washing a pair of jeans.

Hoping for the best I held the button down to turn it on and much to my dismay it didn't light up. Next step was plugging it in, hoping the battery was just dead. And then there was a wonderful and lustrous blue light. Much rejoicing. The next hurdle was to see if it would actually turn on and connect to the phone. I was both shocked and amazed when it did. The microphone and speaker even work.

On to electronics that didn't make it through the weekend and adding to our internet connection woes, the wireless router went kaput Saturday afternoon. My mother and I had gone to Office Depot the day before, armed with a $50 gift card that luckily neither of us could find a good use for. We went back and were able to get a new router for cheap. We moved up from a Linksys WRT54g v1 to a WRT54G v5. The only physical difference is the lack of lights and the big Cisco logo on the new one. The new one has 8 lights compared to the 20 on the old. The new one also seems to have a much better range..which is good. It now reaches everywhere in the house. If my neighbor could crack the random 63 digit ASCII wpa passphrase (which is the only way to go if you want to be safe) he could probably use it too.

On a sad note, actor Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita passed away at the age of 73 on Thursday in his Las Vegas home. I hadn't heard the news until today. Wax on... wax off. Wax on... wax off.

Posted by mhader at 5:50 PM | Comments (1)

November 24, 2005

Numbers

If you were able to watch Lost last night, did you happen to notice number 42 down on the crossword puzzle? In case you didn't, the clue was "Enkidu's friend". Though we referred to him as Stinkydu in our 9th grade satire project that I recently wrote about, his friend was still the same. Gilgamesh.

Has anyone noticed how the Lost numbers repeatedly show up in every episode (since the pilot, even). The numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42. The sum of which is 108, the amount of minutes between the time the survivors have to enter the numbers into the computer. The Flight number of the plane was 815 - 8 & 15. Jack was siting in 23B, Ana Lucia was in 42F. 23 was the number of survivors on the back half of the plane. 4 of them were taken by the others the night the plane crashed. Only 4 of them made it back to the other half of the plane. The list goes on an on..

Posted by mhader at 9:05 AM

November 21, 2005

Time Goes By So Slowly

I actually had something to write about last week, but with my procrastinative personality I haven't. So I'm trying to make up for it..

Last Thursday, reps from the laser manufacturer were in town to have a patient seminar. After the seminar they took several of us out to eat at the Charleston Grill. This is the type of high-class restaurant I don't frequent too often. I could eat for a week on what it cost for just my one meal. Thanks to the online menu, this is what I had:

Appetizer - Coastal Carolina White Shrimp and Lobster Bisque
Entree - Grilled Dry Aged Colorado Lamb Chops Painted with a Roasted Garlic Rosemary Purée over a Red Roma Concassé in a Lime Jus De Viande and Nicoise Cream
Dessert - Chocolate Quintet. (That's not on the online menu..I think that's what it was called.)

Several other items were also brought to the table throughout the evening for us to sample, including some pimp'd out shrimp and a large selection of breads.

The food and atmosphere were very nice. Music was provided by the Frank Duvall Jazz Trio. The only problem I had, other than being in an uncomfortable high-class setting, was that I sat in a high traffic area. The wait staff kept hitting my chair throughout the roughly two hours we were there. The portions were small (which was to be expected), but with all the extras I was quite full when we left. I will have to make special note of the dessert, which was the most impressive thing to be placed on the table the whole night. It was a very artistic display of five different chocolaty goodies. Although it didn't look it, everything on the plate was edible. The plate itself had a coating of chocolate as the base of the dessert. I ate the five pieces in the order the chef recommends, and I'm honestly not sure how I finished it. It was so sweet that I didn't feel so well upon finishing it, which I think is saying a lot. I imagine most people can't finish it themselves..maybe the recommended wine would have helped. It took everything I had to eat it all. Unfortunately the first thing I ate was by far the best of the five. I could have stopped there and been happy..and saved my self a couple million calories.

Posted by mhader at 5:03 PM

November 15, 2005

Knights of the Poorly Constructed Round Table

Lots of updates to mhader.com were made following homecoming last week. The biggest update was to the Gallery with some of the pictures from the weekend. You'll find pictures of the pig hidden in the description for the homecoming album. The Tigerama page was also updated with images of posters thanks to Lisa's collection. I still need the titles to the PSA skits before I upload the media files and officially launch the page. Two new shot glasses were added to the HRC page. Finally, a picture from my off-road driving excursion can be found at the top of the Jeep page.

This past weekend I formatted my c: drive. I actually repartitioned the whole drive from a 20-40-60 gb split to a 45-75 gb split. The format/partitioning was a fairly smooth process. Activating XP on the other hand was a pain. Apparently I've activated my legal copy too many times due to other formats and hardware changes. I had to call Microsoft, read the 54(?) digit number to the computer. Then I had to read half the numbers to a real live person and answer a few questions. I guess I'll have to do this every time I reinstall XP from now on. Great. I've gotten most programs up and running again. I've installed a plethora of open source and other free softwares. I'll try to add links to most of those on the links page in the near future.

I've also made some good strides in designing a 24"X24" magnet for the hood of my Jeep. Now I just need to find someone that can print it..sometime before football starts next season. My biggest concern at this point is whether or not I'll be able to drive on the highway without it flying off. My guess is probably not. I'll get a preview up when I convert it to a web compliant image file.

Posted by mhader at 6:34 PM | Comments (2)


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mhader.com blog gallery jeep the list hrc shots links about	Michael's Weblog « October 2005 \| Main \| December 2005 » November 28, 2005 So Fresh and So Clean Clean Apparently the bluetooth headset for my blackberry, which isn't cheap by the way, was dirty and needed to be washed. What better way to clean it than leave it in the pocket of my jeans (yes, I have a pair of jeans) and send it through the washer and dryer. I've washed the wired headset before with no problems, so it should be okay, right? It fell out of the pocket this morning while I was folding clothes. Serves me right for actually washing a pair of jeans. Hoping for the best I held the button down to turn it on and much to my dismay it didn't light up. Next step was plugging it in, hoping the battery was just dead. And then there was a wonderful and lustrous blue light. Much rejoicing. The next hurdle was to see if it would actually turn on and connect to the phone. I was both shocked and amazed when it did. The microphone and speaker even work. On to electronics that didn't make it through the weekend and adding to our internet connection woes, the wireless router went kaput Saturday afternoon. My mother and I had gone to Office Depot the day before, armed with a $50 gift card that luckily neither of us could find a good use for. We went back and were able to get a new router for cheap. We moved up from a Linksys WRT54g v1 to a WRT54G v5. The only physical difference is the lack of lights and the big Cisco logo on the new one. The new one has 8 lights compared to the 20 on the old. The new one also seems to have a much better range..which is good. It now reaches everywhere in the house. If my neighbor could crack the random 63 digit ASCII wpa passphrase (which is the only way to go if you want to be safe) he could probably use it too. On a sad note, actor Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita passed away at the age of 73 on Thursday in his Las Vegas home. I hadn't heard the news until today. Wax on... wax off. Wax on... wax off. Posted by mhader at 5:50 PM \| Comments (1) November 24, 2005 Numbers If you were able to watch Lost last night, did you happen to notice number 42 down on the crossword puzzle? In case you didn't, the clue was "Enkidu's friend". Though we referred to him as Stinkydu in our 9th grade satire project that I recently wrote about, his friend was still the same. Gilgamesh. Has anyone noticed how the Lost numbers repeatedly show up in every episode (since the pilot, even). The numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42. The sum of which is 108, the amount of minutes between the time the survivors have to enter the numbers into the computer. The Flight number of the plane was 815 - 8 & 15. Jack was siting in 23B, Ana Lucia was in 42F. 23 was the number of survivors on the back half of the plane. 4 of them were taken by the others the night the plane crashed. Only 4 of them made it back to the other half of the plane. The list goes on an on.. Posted by mhader at 9:05 AM November 21, 2005 Time Goes By So Slowly I actually had something to write about last week, but with my procrastinative personality I haven't. So I'm trying to make up for it.. Last Thursday, reps from the laser manufacturer were in town to have a patient seminar. After the seminar they took several of us out to eat at the Charleston Grill. This is the type of high-class restaurant I don't frequent too often. I could eat for a week on what it cost for just my one meal. Thanks to the online menu, this is what I had: Appetizer - Coastal Carolina White Shrimp and Lobster Bisque Entree - Grilled Dry Aged Colorado Lamb Chops Painted with a Roasted Garlic Rosemary Purée over a Red Roma Concassé in a Lime Jus De Viande and Nicoise Cream Dessert - Chocolate Quintet. (That's not on the online menu..I think that's what it was called.) Several other items were also brought to the table throughout the evening for us to sample, including some pimp'd out shrimp and a large selection of breads. The food and atmosphere were very nice. Music was provided by the Frank Duvall Jazz Trio. The only problem I had, other than being in an uncomfortable high-class setting, was that I sat in a high traffic area. The wait staff kept hitting my chair throughout the roughly two hours we were there. The portions were small (which was to be expected), but with all the extras I was quite full when we left. I will have to make special note of the dessert, which was the most impressive thing to be placed on the table the whole night. It was a very artistic display of five different chocolaty goodies. Although it didn't look it, everything on the plate was edible. The plate itself had a coating of chocolate as the base of the dessert. I ate the five pieces in the order the chef recommends, and I'm honestly not sure how I finished it. It was so sweet that I didn't feel so well upon finishing it, which I think is saying a lot. I imagine most people can't finish it themselves..maybe the recommended wine would have helped. It took everything I had to eat it all. Unfortunately the first thing I ate was by far the best of the five. I could have stopped there and been happy..and saved my self a couple million calories. Posted by mhader at 5:03 PM November 15, 2005 Knights of the Poorly Constructed Round Table Lots of updates to mhader.com were made following homecoming last week. The biggest update was to the Gallery with some of the pictures from the weekend. You'll find pictures of the pig hidden in the description for the homecoming album. The Tigerama page was also updated with images of posters thanks to Lisa's collection. I still need the titles to the PSA skits before I upload the media files and officially launch the page. Two new shot glasses were added to the HRC page. Finally, a picture from my off-road driving excursion can be found at the top of the Jeep page. This past weekend I formatted my c: drive. I actually repartitioned the whole drive from a 20-40-60 gb split to a 45-75 gb split. The format/partitioning was a fairly smooth process. Activating XP on the other hand was a pain. Apparently I've activated my legal copy too many times due to other formats and hardware changes. I had to call Microsoft, read the 54(?) digit number to the computer. Then I had to read half the numbers to a real live person and answer a few questions. I guess I'll have to do this every time I reinstall XP from now on. Great. I've gotten most programs up and running again. I've installed a plethora of open source and other free softwares. I'll try to add links to most of those on the links page in the near future. I've also made some good strides in designing a 24"X24" magnet for the hood of my Jeep. Now I just need to find someone that can print it..sometime before football starts next season. My biggest concern at this point is whether or not I'll be able to drive on the highway without it flying off. My guess is probably not. I'll get a preview up when I convert it to a web compliant image file. Posted by mhader at 6:34 PM \| Comments (2)