techcommdood's brain dump

My First Albums

2009-05-25T12:53:00.003-04:00

Here’s what you do: Go to Wikipedia’s random article page. The title of the article you get is your new band name.Go to the ‘random’ page on this quotations site. Your album name is the last few words of the last quote on the page.Go to Flickr’s pick of the last seven days page. Your album cover is the third photo on the page, no matter what that picture is.Use Photoshop/Paintbrush/Sumopaint.com

Where've I been?

2009-04-02T23:08:00.003-04:00

I figure I'll use this blog for random posts, and this one's definitely appropriate.I'm sorry to have been missing from the blogosphere lately. Truth is, we had a bit of a family scare. Here's the skinny:About a month or so ago my youngest daughter had gone to the school nurse's office complaining about blurry vision. It came and went quickly, but we took her to see an eye doctor, thinking she

New blog

2009-02-16T11:26:00.002-05:00

A quick note to let you know that I have a new blog for techcomm info: techcommdood.com. Please subscribe to or bookmark that blog if you are interested in technical communication, as I will not be posting that info here anymore. I may continue to use this one for more random posts, but don't expect regular updates here.Also, in case you missed it, my beer blogging has moved as well:

New beer blog

2009-02-07T18:25:00.002-05:00

I'm moving my beer-related posts to a separate blog. It seems they are gaining quite a few followers! So if you're a beer enthusiast and want to begin or continue following my beer posts, visit the new beercommdood blog and subscribe.

Are you ready for the digital switch?

2009-02-05T09:02:00.005-05:00

Chances are that if you are reading this, you are ready for the digital TV revolution and have had nothing to worry about. But it looks like those who aren't ready have more time.5.7% of American homes were not ready to switch to digital, so Congress decided to delay the changeover for four more months. I personally think that four months from now that percentage might drop to 5%, or perhaps 4.5%

The Twitterverse is Expanding

2009-01-28T00:22:00.003-05:00

I've noticed an interesting trend over the past few months. It seems that more and more people I know are joining Twitter. My follower count is rising, my friends' counts are rising, and the tweets are flying like dookie in a room full of monkeys with typewriters.At the same time, I'm also noticing a downward trend in IMing and in TXTing. People seem to favor Twitter, whether it be blanket posts

Review: The Big Talk

2009-01-24T15:53:00.003-05:00

The Fine Art of The Big Talk: How to Win Clients, Deliver Great Presentations, and Solve Conflicts at Work by Debra FineHaving recently been given the opportunity to seek alternative work arrangements, I thought I'd bone up on my interview skills and technique. While at Borders one day, this book caught my eye. I hadn't heard about it before, nor did I know the author, but the liner notes and

Who designed this?

2009-01-19T22:53:00.002-05:00

And what were they smoking?

Cool BluRay Player

2009-01-09T15:35:00.002-05:00

Just caught news about this new BluRay player, which supports torrents and many different codecs. My inner geek is going nuts, but my inner accountant says to save the dough.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T13:14:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy Christmas Eve so far. The kids are wrapping presents and helping me tidy up the house for Christmas morning when the rest of the local family will stop over for gifting and breakfast. Soon we'll be baking cookies. On the menu are pfefferneuse, Toll House cookies, and "forgotten" (meringue) cookies. We call them forgotten cookies because we bake them last, heating the oven,

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-21T17:23:00.001-05:00

A few shots of the gingerbread houses the kids made this year.

It'll definitely be a white Christmas this year

2008-12-21T17:16:00.001-05:00

It's only December 21 and already we have close to two feet of snow outside. Below are some shots I snapped this morning after shoveling. I now need to go back out there and clear the six inches that have fallen since. This is storm #3 this month. The first was ice (see older blog entries), then snow on Friday and again today. We're expecting some kind of precipitation every day until Christmas,

Christmas Cannon

2008-12-21T02:54:00.002-05:00

Between the music and the silliness of the video shots, I'm sold.DIY Christmas Cannon is a Festive Tinsel Explosion

My 8 year old will soon crush me in a battle of wits to the death

2008-12-18T22:03:00.002-05:00

You heard me right. Upon leaving their dance studio this evening, my mini Gerber multitool fell off my key ring onto the car floor. I commented most eloquently, "Ugh, I dropped the thing on the floor."My older asks "What thing?" I respond in jest "The thing I had on my keys."My 8 year old asks: "what thing on your keys?"Me: "The thing that's on the floor."8yo: "What thing on the floor that was on

What Christmas Cookie Are You?

2008-12-13T18:15:00.003-05:00

Fun little quiz. Also works well with the fortune cookie "in bed" tweak.My result: Molasses-Gingerbread Cookies."You're warm, spicy, and multifaceted."In bed.

A Power Outtage Reminder

2008-12-13T17:06:00.003-05:00

When the power is out, remember to treat all intersections with down traffic lights as 4-way stops. This is in the manual you supposedly read in order to get your license. There is no right of way, and you do not have the right to blow through it without stopping. To help this sink in, tonight I was detoured past a 3-car pile-up with one SUV on its side in an unlit intersection. Had everyone

Last Night's Ice Storm

2008-12-12T22:29:00.003-05:00

A major ice storm ripped through New England and other areas of the Northeast. My corner of NY wasn't spared. Most of my town is still without power, but I have all utilities up and running now. Here are some pictures from earlier in the day.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

2008-12-10T19:35:00.004-05:00

Sunday afternoon I took my older daughter to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Times Union Center in Albany NY. This was our second time seeing them, and still we were wowed.Great show, despite a 20 minute delay while troubleshooting one of the lighting rigs. Apparently one of the color sequence bars wasn't working, so eventually they decided just to turn it off. We didn't miss it one bit.I was

How true

2008-11-21T15:37:00.004-05:00

WritersUA Skills & Technology Survey

2008-11-21T10:17:00.003-05:00

The Skills and Technology survey is now underway on WritersUA.com. Submit your response today and be counted!One note though...Question 1 asks about the types of output you create, and one of the choices is "Sandcastle". Those of you who use Sandcastle will likely know this, but for the benefit of all, allow me to clarify.Sandcastle is a documentation compiler for managed class libraries. That is

nerd/geek/dork meme

2008-10-29T14:03:00.002-04:00

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...Pure Nerd For The Record:A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the

John Cleese on Sarah Palin

2008-10-21T11:29:00.001-04:00

"I used to think that Michael Palin was the funniest Palin..."

I couldn't resist

2008-10-16T14:01:00.002-04:00

WANT (to do)

2008-10-16T00:32:00.003-04:00

If I ever have throw-away time on my hands, I'm rigging something like this up. Very, very cool.

Spam of the week

2008-10-15T21:24:00.002-04:00

One of my Yahoo Groups received this gem (in bulk). Thankfully the rudimentary challenge/response system for new members we created worked at trapping it in an approval queue. It's a beautiful piece of work though.HelloMy deer Super and Duper FriendzBigappless Here u ll find latest some applesSo click on This LinkTo be adila we are the best in the best worldSo plz click on This Linkif u interest