Patience

What is Patience ? I've noticed a pattern when I show off my new hobby, model trains (http://trains.calldei.com).
Almost universally the comment is "Wow, that must take a lot of Patience, I could never do that". At first I thought I understood, as certainly it takes a lot of *time* and *effort*. But reflecting on this, I cant understand the term "Patience".

This takes no "Patience" whatsoever. To contemplate, how can a hobby or an art or work or similar thing take "Patience" ?. More so then say Jogging, or watching TV or reading. Raising children, now THAT takes patience ! But doing something which every second is enjoyable and at the end builds something. That takes no patience. It doesn't matter how long it takes. The longer the better. I actually worry that I'll complete it and have no more to do.

Watching Television, 40 years later and you've accomplished nothing. That doesn't take patience ? but building something does ? I guess I don't understand what people are thinking. Perhaps its as ancient and almost cliché as eastern philosophy about the journey not the destination.

I look back at my life at the things which I have a problem with Patience. I consider myself *very impatient*. I cant stand sitting around at "parties" while people invoke "small talk". Give me a gun I could shoot myself. Waiting for a delayed plane. Waiting for my life and career to progress to the point I could afford a house. Driving in traffic. Waiting for a shipment of a new train part! Trying to persuade someone who doesn't agree with you. All those things take "Patience". But actually doing something ? Immeshed completely in the act of doing something that takes enough of your senses to distract and absorb the ongoing ramble of an overactive brain ? Thats not patience.

Balisage - Now on Advisory board !

I'm honored to announce I've been accepted to the Balisage Conference Advisory Board.
http://www.balisage.net

This conference is by no comparison, *the* markup conference which I've been lucky to attend every and honored to present at many during the last 5 years.

I hope that I can give back to the community in some small portion of what I've received by attending this conference series.

Curaçao Dive Trip

My friend and I just came back from a great scuba dive trip to Curaça, part of the "Netherlands Antilles" ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire , Curaçao )

Lets get it out of the way. Its pronounced "Kur-A-Sow" (not "kur-aahh-koo").
And yes that funny ç is a "C with Cedill"












Before last year I had never heard of this country. Ignorant Americans. Now I'm convinced its the Hidden Jewel of the Caribbean. (full history)

Settled by Spain in the 1500s then captured by the Dutch and used as a cornerstone for the slave trade until 1863. Then oil was discovered and then tourism. Now it is a marvelous little island, well developed, quite clean, modern, and friendly.

We went primarily for Scuba Diving (at the suggestion of our local dive shop), and for convenience and price stayed at Breezes which hosts a full dive shop, all incusive all-you-can-eat-or-drink and a reasonable tropical paradise look & fell almost (but not quite) equaling a Disney resort. Breezes, is well, a Breezes. A great value for the money, but not particularly high end. But since we went for diving not entertaining it worked. The rooms were spacious and clean, most everything worked and nothing to complain about except the usual ( long lines at the bars, "mini" beers served in 6 oz cups, but you could get as many as you want, a TV that went into "demo mode" every 5 minutes, a pretentious "pretending to be fancy" specialty restaurant which would rather I wear dirty tennis shoes then classy strapped sandals, hard bed, only 1 US plug in the room, crowds, cheesy entertainment, rooms often not cleaned until 6pm and kids everywhere.) But hey, its a budget family resort and truly a great value for the money.

The flight there and back was miserable. The planes were fine (5 hours total) but from Jasper our best flights were through Miami, with an 7 hour departing, and 9 hour returning layover. But that got us a $550 flight instead of a $1200 flight. Talking to others, there are better flights from different places, including a direct flight from New Jersey (4.5 hours).

On arrival, customs and transit were flawless. 10 minutes to get through customs and we found the Breezes representative waiting for us with our names. 10 minutes later we were on the air conditioned bus and 20 minutes later at the resort.
Check in took about 10 minutes (although I heard later some people at peek times took over an hour). The drive from airport to hotel was interesting. Of first note was the "shanty" part of town near the airport. A step up from Jamaica or Dominican Republic, clean, but definitely poor. But by the time we went through the city (which was immaculate and modern) and then to the hotel, things picked up. Clean modern homes, reasonably kept roads. A lot of new construction all fairly modern.

Diving was both excellent and unimpressive. Depending on what you expected. The dives were very easy, which I enjoyed. The boat picked us up at the resort dive shop (about a 2 minute walk from the room), sometimes picked up a few from other local hotels (10 minutes max) then at most a 10 minute ride to the dive site. Except for the first day at the tail end of a storm, the sea was calm with absolutely no currents. Clarity was fair (40' - 60') and improved with depth. A huge amount of wildlife, but mostly small fish, few large critters. That was the unimpressive part. If you were expecting sharks, rays, 10 foot barracudas, lobsters, giant crabs, well, you'd be disappointed. But if you liked millions of small colorful fish, amazing variety of coral and plant life, warm water (78deg/C +) and a long pleasant easy dive it was heaven. We did see some interesting ones, a few Huge Morey eels (1 foot across, 8+ ft long !) a turtle, a few big trumpet fish, but for the most part fish in the 1 inch to 2 foot length and a lot of "empty apartments" (coral nooks and crannies totally empty of fish). 2 lobster but small and hidden, and one turtle.

We dived 5 days (2 tanks/day) in the mornings, back by 12:30 for lunch drinks, and naps. We did a group checkout dive on sunday, then later in the week did a solo (just us 2) dive from the shore (unlimited free shore dives).
I used Nitrox/32 (no thats not Nitrous) for all the boat dives. I'd been Nitrox certified last year and this was my first try with the magic go-juice. I'm sold. I felt better after each dive then I started. I came up feeling wide awake, relaxed, clear headed and just fantastic. But then maybe I would have anyway, who knows. Great relaxing diving - 12 dives total. Could have done more but boy are those afternoon naps after a few beers are great.

The weather was great. about 75/C at night and up to 88/C in the day. The constant breezes kept the air cool and humidity was reasonable ! Our scuba gear actually mostly dried outside overnight (unlike Cozumel where they would get *wetter* if left outside), and I didn't sweat through my tee-shirts and create a sopping mess in an hour (again un-like Cozumel).

On Saturday we took the free shuttle to town. Wonderful and totally surprising. This was Willemstad, (previously called "New Amsterdam"). A beautiful town with a definite dutch look. Very pretty buildings and architecture. Clean, and a marvelous mix of cultures. All the people speak at least 4 languages (Papiamentu, English, Spanish, Dutch). The town was a mixture of tropical/island and modern. Little fishing boats docked selling fresh fish and fruit, along with chain stores, a McDonnalds, some dutch pubs, jewlery stores, trinket stores. Hard to describe. Very friendly and safe feeling, clean and reasonably modern with an old-world flair. Most of the tourists seemed to be European (probably dutch), with maybe 20% american and a mix of south american (its near Venezuela).

So why do I call this "The Hidden Jewel of the Caribbean" ... because it seems noone knows it exists yet is the nicest most beautiful island or tropical area I've been to that is both modern and native. I have suspicians that like the old Greenland/vs/Iceland trick long ago, the Dutch are not advertising Curaçao much and instead send foreigners to Aruba and keep Curaçao to themselves as their hidden jewel.

I'd definitely go back and recommend it as a good value for a vacation for singles, couples, or families. Plenty to do and see, wonderful weather, and just plain pleasant.

LED Lighting. I've drunk the Kool-Aid

Some lights burned out. The "Honey Do" list had an entry for "Replace broken lights in house". The florescent under-cabinet lights hurt our eyes.

In my recent hobby (trains) I've made a new friend, Home Depot. I probably go there 3 times a week. They know me by name (and CC#). I've always LOVED LEDs'. Yes I've had a constant infatuation and love-affair with them culminating in collage when I was actually able to make them from scratch (fun stuff with silicon and hydrofluoric acid). I love everything LED. Lately its been those micro flashlights, and I've experimented with strip lighting for my trains.

But today my task was mundane. Light Bulbs. Well what do you know. Home Depot has LED Light Bulbs ! I've read about them in all the exotic press (like Popular Science, and slashdot) but never seen one with my own eyes. There they were on the shelf. Expensive as hell but they "Looked Like" real light bulbs. What? I needed a 60w equivalent - typically about $3 for your incandescent or $5 for a ( ) CF bulb. I Hate CF bulbs. Its the worse of both categories packaged into one. Annoying flicker of Florescent, and poison of the mercury, and they just make my eyes hurt. But were supposed to ditch the Incandescents and buy into the CF mantra ... for what ? Global Warming ? Landfills full of toxic waste ? I'll never buy a CF if they pry my Edison from my dead cold hands (but hasnt stopped the Significant Other from getting some ... arg.).

So here I looked and my Love And Joy was now in a standard bulb package ! Wow.

Prominently displayed was a logo on the box "Save $97" ... fine print (over 20 years).

Actual Cost $24.00 Damn. Its a hard sell. Buy a $3 incandescent that lasts a year and only adds on to the non-line-item electric bill where I can imagine its the TV or the pool pump adding the $ ? Or pay $24. cash-in-hand *right now* for the promise of less cost later.

So I let my Love Afair with LED's combined with my Super Math Skills to convince me that $24 one time is worth $4 20 times + 10x the electric costs.

It actually makes economic sense, especially if placed in fixtures that are a pain the arse to get at. But really, if you do the math it makes sense ... except the pain of the 1-time purchase.

Well xmas spirit in hand, and open wallet in tow I got ONE. Ok Only ONE. What harm in that.

When I unpacked it at home I had the same experience as unpacking my iPhone. I cradled it in my hand, it felt GOOD. Strong, Rugged. Heavy. Packed like an hereloom, not a throw-away. This was no childs light. This is a Real Man's. Light. And armed with the math I could advocate the expense as "Saving Money". It Felt GOOD.

Then came the test. I plugged it into the kitchen overhead light. Dareingly turned on the switch expecting full heartedly that it would be a dim reminiscent of LED's gone by ... but NO ...

It SHOWN . Shone with the proud light of day. The tone was perfect (slightly yellow) , Yea even *better* then incandescent ! No way. Way. Dude. I liked the light BETTER then Incandescent. And of course no match for CF or Florescent strobe headaches.

Wow. I was impressed. Sold that is. Black Gold. Texas Tea.

I was onto something.

Open the channel. I needed to replace 2 indoor floods in the basement. Off to Home Depot. There they were ! 2 LED's for indoor floods. A 40w equiv (even though replacing a 100w flood). I quivered and shrank but decided my morals were strong and I was going for it. So I did. Brought them home, and pluged them ... ALMOST in ... DAMN.

They were too big for the socket (recessed movable celiing spot) but only by a TINY TINY BIT.

Almost about to give up I heafted the piece of art in my hands and *wished* it to fit.

Then I realized under the white paint, was heft. Heavy. Whats that ? Pure Aluminum !

I can deal with that. Off to the shop and I turned on my belt sander. 1 minute later 1mm of aluminum block neatly sanded off and volila ! They fit !

And they Shone ! And light was in the basement and all was good. Beautiful.

When's the last time you could SAND a light bulb to fit ??? Damn. Never expected THAT advantage.

So next on the "Honey Do" list was under-the-counter Florescents. I HATE those but I remembered my friend, Home Depot, had a few LED strip lights ... off to the store and back with 2 in hand. A little rewiring and a wire nut and voila ! Under-counter LED's that look beautiful and should last 20 years and don't flash like Pokemon cartoon giving me epilepsy.

What more can you want ?

I'm converted. I'm an LED Man now. I have taken it on myself to help the prices come down by replacing every bulb and lighting in my house to LED wherever practical (few places still need VAST lighting like my 500w halagins in my workshop) but for the most part its a no brainier.

No More Florescents.

No More Incandescents.

I'm the LED Man and I'm not going back !

Harry Snooze Potter

I *like* Harry potter movies, I really do. They are fun, action, exciting, sometimes silly and occasionally dramatic. So with mild anticipation we went to the latest Harry Potter movie "harry potter and the deathly hallows". I knew it was "Part I of II" so I expected it not to end with any sort of completeness. But what I did not expect was the agonizing 2 hours 30 minutes BEFORE it ended to be so intensely confusing and boring. It was so boring and slow that my 11 year old son literally fell asleep halfway through and spent 30 minutes snorring ... seriously ! He was only awakened by a very loud scene.

Maybe this is one of those movies where you "had to have read the book". But to my mind its one of those movies "only a mother could love". A huge amount of time spent slipping in cameo shots of past characters who I couldn't ever remember, and who played no real part in the plot. That is, what thin plot there was.

Ok here's the spoiler plot as far as I could figure out. The Bad Guy wants to kill Harry so he goes on the run. Well more like a long walk and sleep. Somewhere along the lines we discover he has to get and destroy some of these necklace thingies. Why? I dont know. And to do that he has to get a sword. Which eventually he finds in a frozen lake. Then his friend uses it to destroy the necklace. Why harry couldn't do it ? Guess his friend who wandered off 1/3 the way through the movie had to have something to do. Then he does some more running around ... eventually there's yet another "dramatic fight scene" then its over. Oh yea there's some subtle romantic sub-plot I cant figure out. An interrupted wedding which I thought was harry's until the end and some wands and for 5 minutes an interesting fable about the "Deathly Hallows" ... which has something to do with the plot but who knows.

And what few plot bits there were, were obvious takeoffs from classics (Lord of the rings, Star Wars, etc) but not done as well and dropped like rabbit droppings from time to time to add a tiny bit of confusion to the otherwise consistently boring trudging story.

Nothing more to write, that was it. Atleast the Titanic had some good sweeping images and a plot I could understand "gonna drown in the cold ocean".

Sorry to Potter Fans, maybe you'll love it. But if your interested in going to a movie for Entertainment, skip this one and watch the car rust instead.

iPad Drawings

I found a "trick" in the Brushes app. It lets you load a photo and then mix it into the main drawing area. You can then draw "over" the photo and remove the photo at the end.

Voila !

iPad Second Impressions

Its not been 3 weeks since I've got my hands on the iPad. I was about to write this review ON the iPad but found that for some reason I could not get Safari on iPad to focus on this text entry field !!! (-1 for review !)

Since my first impressions I've lugged my iPad to a conference in Canada (www.balisage.net), used it daily for email and browsing, read 2 eBooks, watched 3 movies, created a dozen "paintings" and overall used it fairly exhaustively.

Conclusion. Its much better and useful then I originally thought, but I'm not throwing out my laptop.

Touch Typing.

After a week or so I got prety good at touch typing. If you have a desk or lap to put the ipad and can use both hands and use it in landscape mode I could nearly touch-type. By 'nearly' I had to hold my hands very still since there is no tactile feedback, but I could type without looking at the keyboard ... sometimes even error free. But not as easy as with a real keyboard. I quickly put it back into my backpack at the conference and whipped out my laptop.

But its good enough to write 2-5 paragraph emails and I found while sitting in my living room recliner I would use the iPad to write emails instead of going to the 'extra trouble' of leaning over to grab my laptop and booting it up.

Reading

Reading Emails is a joy. Even more so then my laptop primarily due to the fine control over zoom. Its easy to zoom into an email so its just big enough font to read cleanly reguardless of if I have my glasses or not or the room lighting.

EBook reading is quite good. I've been using it instead of my Kindle but with Amazon books, for the last week. The nicest thing is the backlight so I dont disturb my wife quite so much by having a LED light on my chest while reading in bed. However I do find it does cause eyestrain sooner then my Kindle and I like the physical page buttons on the Kindle better then the iPad. But it makes up for it with a backlight and larger screen. Almost on par.

If I already had an iPad I would think twice about buyiung a kindle. But if All I wanted is a book reader, I'd suggest a Kindle.

Touch operations.

Still in love with the magic feelings of the touch. Last week I put on a full screen protector sheet and am considering removing it. It seems to blur the screen slightly (or maybe its my eyes) and seems to make the touch screen slightly unresponsive. But its hard to tell for sure without 2 iPads neck to neck to see if this is my imagination or its real. But it just seems slightly more blury and slightly harder to activate touch. I am thinking of pealing off the protector and going naked (as apple suggests ... they no longer suggest screen protectors !)

Movie Watching

Wow. Thats all. 3 letters. Wow. I watched 3 HD movies in bed in my hotel which I had previously downloaded (DO pre-download ! The hotel Wifi was horrible).

I had to plug in my earphones to get loud enough sound. Other then that it was amazing.

Real HD resolution video and clear sound. A fantastic experience for watching a movie alone.

Overall ... I'm still impressed

Very impressed. Cant wait for V(N+1). A phone ? Camera ? Video Camera ? Better file exchange ?