July 2010
1 post
Rare beach day
Just standing here on Salisbury beach, enjoying one of the cooler days this summer. I’m standing mostly because I forgot the chairs. The boys are having fun building sand castles, after having been in the icy water. Despite the moderate crowds, the sound of the surf and the cool air are relaxing. I’m taking advantage of try to restate more active social networking. No promises. ^_^
April 2009
1 post
April Fools at Sun →
Yup, it’s that time of year again, and the Internet is abuzz with April Fools Day jokes of various kinds, including Google’s, YouTube’s, and the first one I saw this morning at Expedia….
Solaris powered Nehalem →
Yesterday, Intel had a big announcement of their Xeon® processor 5500 series CPUs for servers. In conjunction with that announcement, Sun announced some impressive world records with Solaris…
March 2009
4 posts
New Reading Opportunities →
For those who are new to e-books, and for those regular e-book readers looking to try something new, we are well into Read an E-book Week, which is from March 8th through the 14th. There are…
February 2009
7 posts
SF34 Live - →
My oldest us getting tired and a headache, so he us lying down fir a bit. He made it through ‘Transformers’, and my dad is still watching, although I expect he has dozed some. Every year I…
SF34 Live - Past halfway →
We are past the halfway point, which ocurred during ‘The Thing from Another Planet’, a truly classic, well made 50s movie. Next we enjoyed another classic, this one from 1984, ‘Repo Man’ with Harry…
SF34 Live - Update 2 →
The movies continue, as well as the MST3K style comments. Sadly, ‘Chrysalis’, based on a Ray Bradbury story, was slow and awkward. Storyline was good as usual for Ray, too bad the movie…
SF34 Live - we're off →
SF34 is now officially under way, as this pic showing Duck Dodgers attests to. Our first film was a premiere of ‘Alien Trespass’, a great film with gorgeous scenery, and modeled after 1950s…
SF34 - Settling in →
We are at the Somerville Theatre for the Boston Science Fiction Marathon 34 (SF34), and settling in. This year they handed out a large Manila envelope along with the traditional Atomic…
Local Flavor →
This past summer, we sold our house in anticipation of buying our new home in our new community at Mosaic Commons. Until our unit is complete, we have been living in an apartment complex,…
Finally - Blogging from my iPhone →
After several false starts with other blogging clients for the iPhone, I am having success. Sure, I still need to work out the nuances of this client versus what I use on my Palm T3, and the…
December 2008
1 post
Shaving again →
As the title says, at long last I’m shaving again. I’m pretty distracted by the ongoing construction of Mosaic Commons, the new cohousing community we are moving to, and so more things slip…
October 2008
1 post
Testing New Tech
The company I work for gave me an iPod Touch, to use to take multimedia training. I’m trying out an app for posting to Tumblr. The app also supports Blogger, but doesn’t appear to support my work blog, nor does the Wordpess iPhone client. Guess I need to keep looking for a blog client. Posted with LifeCast
September 2008
1 post
Catching up →
I’ve got several posts rolling about in my head, but have been stuck in a blog specific kind of rut. I’m not convinced blog posts are the right medium for quick 1 or 2 sentence blurbs or pointers…
July 2008
1 post
I don't know how to say goodbye →
I’ve been through a number of downsizings at Sun. I even ended up on the down side of one of the early ones, but found a new position just before taking a job elsewhere. I work with many fun,…
June 2008
2 posts
DOS Bootable USB flash drive - how I did it →
There are 2 things you need in order to make an USB flash drive boot into DOS. The first is a boot sector, and the second are the DOS boot files. Below are the steps I used to get these onto a…
DRM sucks ... battery life →
I like reading, a lot of it is science fiction, and so does my wife. She actually reads more than I, and has the good fortune to work at a library, where she has access to a virtually limitless…
May 2008
1 post
My new home takes shape →
While I continue to struggle to get my house ready for selling, I take some comfort in the progress of my new community, Mosaic Commons, both from a personal level and from a construction…
April 2008
3 posts
Dealing with uncommon image formats →
During my downsizing and de-cluttering, I came across a half dozen 3.5” floppies that held digitized pictures. These were from a time before I had a digital camera, and were done as part of the…
Rail Trailing it →
I live in New England, which is notorious for bad weather and frequent changes. Still, the last week or so has been quite warm spring weather, including today, much to the chagrin of the runners…
My old app on a new medium →
I enjoy dabbling in programming, particularly when I doing it for my own interests. As a matter of fact, that’s how I first got started with computers, back in high school. Computers weren’t even…
March 2008
5 posts
Kick ME? →
What have I done to deserve kids like this. A slap on the back and much giggling by my youngest, and the result is below. I’ll get him for this. :-)
Dumpster update 1
We have a 30 square yard green dumpster in the yard for at least the bigger stuff we are getting rid of. I think it is approaching half full, after 2 weeks. Here is a list of some of the stuff we’ve dumped in it so far. We’ve avoided putting some in by putting stuff out by the side of the road for free. Reuse, even if by someone else, is recycling. I may list some of that stuff another...
More stuff going
Finally sold something on Craig’s List today. My sister stored a cedar wardrobe in my horse barn, and never had room to take it back, so with her OK, I listed it on Craig’s List for a great price, and it got picked up this morning. Some free Gourmet Magazines are going tomorrow. Still waiting for interest in some kid stuff for sale, including a Kelty Kids backpack and an Instep jogging...
Finally Gone :-(
My mother’s old cedar chest is finally gone. Neither my sister, my dad nor my aunt had room for it, nor the desire to keep it enough to put it in storage, so it ended up in ‘storage’ at my house. We decided long ago that we didn’t really want it, and I tried several prices on Craig’s list with few bites. The one person who came saw it and decided it was taller...
A snowman comes into existence →
During our most recent snow storm, the temp was warm and the snow perfect for snow balls and their larger sibs, snowmen. So, while I shoveled our driveway, my oldest got to work on his creation.
February 2008
3 posts
SF33 Live 3 →
I forgot to mention who we are. There are four of us, including myself, my father, my friend Bill Page, and my friend Ken Porter. I’ve known Bill for 25+ years, and this is the first time I’ve gotten him to go. He has enjoyed the marathon, but reached his limit after WotW. Ken is still hanging on, but since he has to work today, he will likely leave after this one.
Yup, Ken...
SF33 Live 2 →
’In the Shadow of the Moon’ documentary still on as we arrive back from a dinner break. We left the marathon after ‘The Last Mimzy’, since the timing was good and we were OK with missing the Apollo documentary. We had a delicious meal at Diva’s Indian Bistro here in Davis Square, Somerville, MA.
When you are seeing some of these films in a theatre with a...
SF 33 Live →
Multimedia message Originally uploaded by Dr. Agonfly.Yes, it’s true. The 33rd annual Boston Science Fiction Marathon is well under way. Surprise 1st film - Cloverfield. They should’ve handed out barf bag (motion sickness inducing camera work).
January 2008
7 posts
Sun Blade 6000 firmware update →
The Sun Blade 6000 Modular Computing products have been out for several months now, and have been getting good press, like this Inforworld article. While they liked the Sun Blade 6000, one thing that was noted in this article is the lack of the browser-based user interface (BUI) to the ILOM, which the Sun Blade 8000 has. It was noted that the BUI feature was coming, and good news, it has...
Goodbye manuals, welcome back memories →
I’ve been a pack rat since I was old enough to think something was mine. I also have what I call an overactive Boy Scout gland, i.e. I’m always trying to be prepared for even the most unlikely circumstances. One aspect of this tendency is my feeling like there is never enough time, so I want to be ready to do something productive if I suddenly find myself with a few extra moments....
Boston Science Fiction Marathon →
Boston is famous for many things, including tea parties, the USS Constitution, the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. It’s also famous for the Boston Marathon, a 26.2 mile jaunt through the burbs which I ran as a bandit in 1992. Don’t ask me why, as I don’t do things I like for 4.5 hours non-stop, so I still haven’t figured out why I ran for that long,...
VMware User Group meeting →
Originally uploaded by Dr. Agonfly. This is where I spent my day. Got the pic before practice when security moved in to protect practice from roving eyes.
A new laptop for 2008 →
I was pleasantly surprised by what I’m calling a Christmas present from work, when I came back from winter break. Sun always has the week between Christmas and New Years as paid time off called Winter Break, and since it doesn’t come out of my vacation time, I find it rather handy. And this year, 3 days into the new year, I got a call from the mailroom saying I had a laptop come...
JavaOne 2008 - cool gadgets possible? →
Well, it’s that time of year again. Winter is in full force, plenty of time to code, and thoughts turn to …. JavaOne. OK, for some folks. I’ve never actually been, but being an employee of Sun, I pay attention to the notices. I also like to do my best to stay on top of what I think are important technologies, and even some technologies that other’s think are important,...
Cats on duty →
Some of my cats on active duty, trying to convince a mouse to come out from under the cabinet. Needless to say, they were not effective in their persuasion.
December 2007
7 posts
One Merry Christmas →
It’s that time of year when so many people ask me what I want for Christmas. This isn’t usually an easy question to answer for me. If I want something that’s in a reasonable price range for a holiday gift, I tend to buy it myself, although I try to remember not to as the holidays approach. And if I haven’t bought it for myself, that usually means it is too expensive to...
Christmas blues
Fighting the Christmas blues by wrapping presents for Christmas II, The Sequel. Spent the 25th with my wife’s family and had a fine time. Prepping for ‘Christmas’ with my family, on New Year’s day. Finally threw some Christmas music on my RAZR for listening to while I wrap.
Slow traffic →
Multimedia message Originally uploaded by Dr. Agonfly.Barely moving in stop & go snow traffic, and this sign has a helpful tip. It starts with ‘Ice and Snow’. :-)
Snow pic for Thinguy →
FW: Originally uploaded by Dr. Agonfly.Snow traffic pic for Thinguy.
Hacking my T3 →
I mentioned in a previous post that I had ordered a new higher capacity battery for My Palm T3 off eBay, but found I didn’t immediately need it. Well, this weekend I finally succumbed to the thinking that I might as well benefit from the longer battery life now, rather than wait until my current original battery shows significant signs of decay. I had been gathering the battery and...
Peaceful →
It’s been one of those weeks. I’ve been trying to get ready for the move of several labs I kinda oversee, and the move finally happened last Friday. But the Wednesday before, I get a call from someone in the company looking for some lab space and equipment to work with. Bad timing, but I try to do the SMI thing and accommodate them. Means I spent more time this week shuffling out...
Bad boy
In a rush to move some stuff, some of which is pretty heavy, I wasn’t careful enough, and felt something give way. Hopefully it is just a sore muscle, but time will tell. No more moving stuff for a while.
November 2007
13 posts
Secure notes accessible anywhere, mostly
Since I’ve started using the family PC in the kitchen more, I find myself reading work email via SSL IMAP, and wanting to make notes about stuff. My XP on my laptop is having problems with USB flash drives, so my first thought about keeping notes on a USB flash drive and plugging it in where I am working is on hold. Til then, I thought to use a draft email via my SSL IMAP connection to work....
On Bluetooth Headsets →
I have really come to appreciate a bluetooth headset as an accessary for a cell phone. I detest not having both hands free to drive with, but find talking on a cell phone no more distracting than arguing with talk radio. Perhaps I should get rid of radio as well, but I’m not one to abdicate all responsibility just because something might happen. So I’ve always used a headset for my...
Old eyes and new flashlights →
Looks like it’s confession week here on the old blog. I’ve always had a thing for flashlights, probably stemming from my wee little days when I wanted to stay up later than my parents let me. I’ve owned quite a number of interesting flashlights over the years, including one from the 80s which included 3 LEDs in the side to tell you the battery strength. I didn’t think...
Dude, you're getting Solaris →
I’ll start right out by admitting to being a big fan of the Muppets. I love the Muppet Show, although I’m approaching the age where I could do the role of Waldorf or Stadtler, the elder hecklers from the private box. It should come as no surprise that I have seen most of the Muppet movies, including Muppets from Space. In this movie, there are a couple scenes in which a Muppet bear...
Jott tn Tumblr isn’t working for me, so I’m testing via email.