LED Throwies

Science and art combined again.

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Things are busy

Things are pretty busy right now. It feels like I haven't had any time off, that's probably because I haven't. For the last several weeks, it's been work, work, work. Sandy and I try to get up early to run / excercise. We know it's good for us, so we try to discipline ourselves to do it. It's tough though. Neither of us are morning people (we are very compatible here!) and at this time of year, it's COLD! I know we shouldn't complain, there are other parts of the world that are actually freezing, but being a California guy, having to run all bundled up feel unnatural.

After we get home, I shower and dress and head off to work. Right now I'm not enjoying my job. There is a major project looming over my head, and I'm finding it difficult to get motivated about it.

When I get home from work, there is usually more work to do. I'll usually have a brisk dinner with Sandy and then hit the work. Monday nights I prep to lead the Growth Group that actually happens on Weds night. Prepping can (and usually does) take several hours. I not only prep on facilitating the discussion of the sermon, but I also prep to lead worship. I'll choose 3 songs, and make sure that I've got them "wired". This usually take about an hour (for the worship prep part) and is usually the only hour I really get to "practice" on the guitar. One hour a week ... The whole prep take me to about 9:30 or 10:00, and it's time to go to sleep.

Tuesday: Workout, work, go to CSUSM to teach. This take me to about 9:00. Go home, eat dinner, sleep.

Weds: Workout, work, go home, eat, lead Growth Group. Our guests usually leave around 9:30 to 10:00. Sleep.

Thurs: Prep for CSUSM. This takes at least 4 hours. Last night, I spent about 5 hours prepping and still didn't get done. More to do tonight.

Fri: Get home from work, eat, work, sleep.

The last several weekends, have been: work all day, sleep, work church, record pocacher, sleep.

Then the week starts all over again ...

Ug

Why?

This is ultra retro, but I'm still not sure why you'd want to do this ...

Article

Pessimism

"(some) Men (people) are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult." - Samuel Johnson

I met someone the other day who embodied this quote. I was sitting with a group of people and almost everything that came out of this person's mouth was negative. I didn't hear a positve comment once, not once. This person was a teacher and had negative things to say about the school, the district, the government, admistration, fellow teachers, and students. I thought, whose left? Some other people made an attempt to suggest positive alternatives and strategies, but this teacher's negative perception perevented them from seeing anything but obstacles. This teacher didn't really want to DO anything about it, they must've felt some level of comfot wallowing in despair and sharing it with others. The sad thing was that this person was SO young, maybe just a few years in the classroom, not the typical burned out teacher who was ready to retire. I can only the imagine the infection this teacher might spread at a faculty lunchroom. Why is this person teaching?

The next Aibo?:

Sony's out of the robot business, but Ugobe is ready to take over. Pleo, its robotic Camarasaurus dinosaur, is loaded with 38 touch, light and sound sensors that let him find his way around and respond to his human masters (he can also understand speech). Like Aibo, Pleo learns as he goes. When Pleo's creator picked him up, he said of the poodle-size creature: "It's the first time he's been picked up, so he's scared. The next time he'll be used to it."

And like a real baby, Pleo starts life stupid and cranky. He takes a long time figuring out how to move around, and if you don't play with him, he sulks and looks depressed. I'm not sure I have the time and patience to raise my own Pleo. But maybe if a friend gets one, I can be his uncle. Pleo will be cheap, selling for about $200 when he comes out for Christmas. And while Sony prosecuted fans who tried to hack Aibo, Ugobe invites customers to mod its bot.

The iPod Nano drops to 1 gig

An article at Engadget announced that Apple has quietly created a smaller, less expensive version of the popular MP3 player.

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The End Of An Era

Jan 27 2006 STOP The end of an era STOP few notice STOP

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On May, 24, 1844 the first telegram ever was sent by Samuel L. Morse. Sent from Washington to Baltimore, the message read, "what hath God wrought."

Over the next few decades, telegraphs invented by Morse and his assistant, Alfred Vail, where deployed around the nation and around the world. The first Transatlantic Telegraph cable was succesfully completed on July 27, 1866.

In 1892, Thomas Edison was awarded a patent for the first two-way telegraph.

Fast forward through the next century. Telegrams were the primary means of non-verbal, instant communications across distances. Newspapers were named "telegram" and "telegraph." Foreign correspondents described the ravages of battle. Students off at college wired their parents with news of their safe arrival. Invitations were delivered, deals were struck, people fell in and out of love. Geographically distant cousins sent their best wishes to wedding parties they could not attend.

Telegrams were used to announce the first flight by the Wright Brothers in 1903 and the start of World War I. During World War II, the sight of a Western Union courier was dreaded because the War Department, the precursor to the Department of Defense, used the company to notify families of the death of their loved ones serving in the military.

Telegrams were always faster than letters.



Then, long-distance phone calls got cheaper. In what has to be the peak of irony, these calls became less expensive because of the breakup of a company with an initial that stood for "telegraph." I am talking about AT&T, which in an incarnation that stood firm for most of the 20th century, had the formal corporate name of American Telephone & Telegraph.

On January 27 2006, the first Internet fell silent forever. What was, at one time, considered the most cutting edge technology imagineable, has now been rendered obsolete. Imagine where we will be 62 years from now ...

RIP STOP

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The 10th Planet???

News: There is an object out there that is larger than Pluto and is further out. It orbits the sun. (but so does a lot of other space "debris") Is it the 10th planet? Is Pluto a planet?

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