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We're back - all photos posted

2008-02-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody. We're back now. What an awesome trip! Great diving, great food, great people.

Check out my picasa web page at - http://picasaweb.google.com/thoma004 for all the pictures.

(We got some good ones, but there's some junk up there as well. We'll weed it down when we get a chance).

Pictures!

2008-02-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hi all, we finally made it down to the "Mousepad" to upload some pictures!

ok, so here is our private plane that took us from Belize City out to Ambergris Caye.

These are a couple shots from the plane.

Jenny in the Supermarket. All the comforts of home :)

Our room.

Our View from the room. This is the third floor. Great view but a bit of a hike up stairs after diving.

Our dive operation - Amigos Del Mar. Awesome place, they take care of everything. We haven't had to mess with our gear since we dropped it off on our first day of diving. We are diving with Captain Rene and Divemaster Tony - both are excellent!!

Our first dive - Jenny petting a shark and a curious grouper.

A neat little school of fish hiding out from the current.

Oh my! Sharks :)

A neat little neon purple sponge (these are all over as well, very neat).

And this is Jenny's new little baby. Yes, that's a shark...

Wahoo!!

2008-02-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Hi all, still no pics - too lazy to go down to the internet cafe to get access to a better computer. Too tired from all the diving :) Well, we have some good shots now (heehee) and we hope to get them up tomorrow. But wow, the diving is just awesome! The food is also awesome so there goes that whole exercise and diet thing :) But I guess we're doing more kicking here than in Cozumel so that's burning more calories, right?

Anyway, wish you were here!! Pics tomorrow (if we can get that working, otherwise I'll just google some generic diving pics and say that we took them :)

We're here!

2008-02-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

Hi all, we made it here. The trip was pretty standard. Wait in the usual lines at LAX, then in El Salvador. Get on the plane and smell the chicken until we get to Belize. But then it got interesting. We got our own private plane to Ambergris Caye. We've got some pictures but we're blogging on a shared public computer that's kind of locked down (I'll try more later to get pix going.)

Anyway, diving is GREAT!! I forgot how to use the wite balance on the camera but I'll get better pix tomorrow. Amigos del Mar so far seem great. I don't think we'll have to mess with our gear again until we go home :) Also Scott, I'm using a 100cf tank. Yay for Jenny!

Food is great, still kind of tired though, more later! hopefully pix!

BELIZE!

2008-02-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! This is where I will be posting our trip to Belize. Wahoo, my blogger account still works!

We're just hanging around the house now waiting to head up to LAX. Yay, I just remembered my earbud audio splitter for the plane, ok enough random thoughts, I don't want to bore everyone before we hit the road.

Check back soon!

How to choose someone to fix your computer.

2006-06-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

I work in k-12 public education. I get asked almost daily "do you know anyone good that can fix my computer at home?"

I have some tips that might help you figure out who should fix your computer.

Ask your IT department at work (or have your spouse ask theirs.) The way the industry works, odds are very good that your IT support people do side work. We are ALWAYS networking for jobs and very often we do this through side work. I personally have occasionally done side work for free if the person I am helping will pass my resume onto someone they have a personal connection to. If your IT department doesn't do side work they most likely can recommend someone personally. This of course only applies if you like your tech support people - there are some really bad ones out there so be careful (but you definitely know if you like them or not, trust your instincts.)

Ask your friends and coworkers. The most important thing is to make a personal connection. Chances are very good that someone you know has employed someone to fix their computer at home.

Choose someone you trust! You have A LOT of private information on your computer. If a criminal can get their hands on your computer they can gain access very easily (in most cases) to your personal email, bank accounts and whatever else you have on there. You also have to make sure they aren't going to get you in trouble with putting pirated software on your computer or getting you in trouble for having mp3's on your computer (even if you legally own them they could cause problems for you.)

Never trust someone that says they are an expert! This is a very important one. If someone tells you this, they are most likely more of a salesman than tech help. Good computer support should be humble. They will tell you that they have some experience with the problem but all of the good ones will also tell you that using computers is more of a constantly evolving process rather than something you learn for a while then label yourself an expert. By the way, this holds true for you hiring managers out there as well!!! It's not like spelling, where it is either right or wrong and there is one way to do it. There are a few more layers to this and you want someone that has a broad knowledge base and is creative enough to find a solution for you.

Don't age discriminate. Even though I personally don't fit into the 'young' category anymore, I work in the public school system and I can tell you that there are some very trustworthy and talented high school (and even middle school) students out there that would love to help you out. You might even get creative with your payment options because depending on where you live, these kids might need community service hours to clear their graduation requirements.

Consider getting a new computer. These days it, in my opinion, it is actually usually better to just bite the bullet and buy a new computer. Work the numbers here. It is going to cost you a sizeable portion of a new computer for you to fix your old one. Every day technology gets faster and prices come down. It may seem difficult to get used to a new system but with current technology it really is pretty easy to move into a new system. Check out the outrageous deals at DELL, you might be surprised how far your dollar can go. Obviously this isn't always the way to go because you may have special programs installed or specific older hardware you want to keep using.

What about the geek squad? This is a tough one and a total roll of the dice. To be honest, I have heard some bad things and I've heard some good things. I would recommend that if you do use the geek squad, don't be the first one on your block to do so. Refer to point 2. I would only use them if a personal friend or coworker has had previous dealings with a particular 'geek'. Get a name and request that person specifically.

If you're feeling brave try it yourself. This is the best person to trust. Some people are really reluctant to try to fix their own computer. But usually these people that realize they can destroy their computer do actually have the sense it takes to try and fix it yourself. Respect the fear and know when to stop, but if you can get to google, you might as well give it a shot. Just type in that error message (or problem description) and see what comes up. The fix might be easy. If you do this, make sure to include things like your version of windows (98, xp, etc) and the program you are using. Searching for tech help is an art form and takes a while to get a hang of. You might also try going to a system restore point (Windows XP only). If things are really messed up, doing this won't lose your data, but you might need to reinstall some programs after. To try this, click on 'start', 'programs', 'accessories', 'system tools', 'system restore'. Follow the wizard from there to hopefully go back to a happier time in your computer's life where everything worked.

I hope this guide has given you a couple things to think about and most importantly I hope you never get to the point where you need this little guide!

Osama Bin Laden is in the United States.

2006-05-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

As someone living in Southern California, I hear about immigration problems and securing our borders on a daily basis. I do have some pretty strong opinions on the economic ramifications of the subject, but that's not what this entry is about.

The most conservative estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in America is still in the millions. That means that millions of people that we don't know anything about have come across the border and now live here.

My thought here is simple. Bin Laden is not stupid (misguided and violent, but not stupid). The best way for him to further his jyhad is to strike again on American soil even after we've ramped up our homeland security. And why not add insult to injury by implementing this attack from within US borders. It would be cheaper for him and easier to organize.

I doubt our government would want to spread hysteria by even letting the idea enter our collective head, but it isn't that hard for millions of poor people to cross our border and live in the US. How hard would it be for a multi-millionaire fanatic to do the same?

MY BROWSER OPENS TOO SLOWLY!!!!

2006-05-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

I know this has happened to you. You are away from your computer, having a conversation with someone and you think to yourself, "I've got to google that later..." But by the time you get to your computer and open up the web browser you've completely forgotten what it is you were going to google! UGH! What's worse is that, you KNOW there was something you wanted to look for and thought to yourself at that moment "that would make for some good surfing later..."

This is my biggest computing pet peave right now!

I've come up with a couple thoughts on how to help overcome this. But I'm still looking for a good solution so please post ideas, I'm going nuts here....

On my browser, I set the start page to blank. The reason for this is because it used to be one of my webmail pages. Of course when it comes up with that, I'm going to log in like I have a million times before and start browsing my spam. Of course, this distraction kills any chance of me remembering what the heck it was I opened the browser for in the first place.

I've also played with the idea of keeping a voice recorder on me at all times so I can take notes during my day. But even though I think this makes sense, when I first tried it, I was ridiculed unrelentingly because I was trying to 'look cool'. Plus I never got into the habbit of checking my voice recorder so months later I finally did google how much tickets were for that concert that was last week.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas. Maybe I need to upgrade again because if my web browser loaded just half a second earlier, maybe I'd remember what it was I wanted to look for.

Hey John, how about a Walleteer for this??

LG VX5200 with Verizon as a cel modem

2006-05-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

I recently went through a bit of a roller coaster on getting my new LG VX5200 to work as a usb cel modem with my laptop using Verizon wireless.

End result - pretty darn cool!

I first bought a cheap cable on ebay.
I then got the drivers from this site
I plugged it in and my laptop picked it up and installed it with seemingly no problem.
I then configured a new dial-up connection (manually) with the following settings.

Set it to dial #777
User Name: "phone#"@vzw3g.com
Password: vzw

It connected, but VERY slowly.
I thought this was something to do with my service but it turned out to be a bad cable.

I tried using bitpim with the cheap cable and it could never detect the phone.

I finally got frustrated, went to BestBuy and picked up Pix'n Tunes for $30. This is actually a pretty cool package especially if you have friends and family that have different phones. It comes with 6 partial cables that fit different phones. I was able to use one for me and one for my mom (with another usb female to male extension cable).

With this new cable, everything works fine. The service through Verizon just uses minutes so for me it is great for nights and weekends especially. It connects at 115k and is very useable for email and light surfing. It is also pretty useable for remote control apps like logmein, especially if you crank down the color depth to black and white.

I hope someone out there finds this write-up useful. It kept me from buying an expensive smartphone like a Treo 700, Treo 650, Samsung SCH-i730 or Verizon XV6700.

I think this was a good solution considering the price and I already had a laptop. $30 for the LG VX5200 after rebate and just the cheapest phone plan they offer.

Healthy Geek Recipe - Soylent Salad V1.0 aka Spinach Smoothie aka Salad Slurry

2006-05-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Salad bothers me. It takes too long to eat, it doesn't have a whole lot of flavor, and I guess I'm a messy eater because I always end up wearing bleu cheese or ranch afterward.

The health benefits are a given - tons of easily absorbable essential nutrients and it keeps the system running smoothly. Over the years I've tried to get in the habbit of eating salads but I've just never been able to stick to it, until I figured out the Spinach Smoothie (or Soylent Salad or Salad Slurry).

The concept is simple. Take whats good about the salad and just get it over with. Change your perception of salad into more of a medicinal thing instead of an eating experience.

Here's the process, buy a blender or a Magic Bullet, go to the store and pick up some greenery, add some water, liquify it, then chug!

What's needed -

Before -

After -

I personally like the Magic Bullet because it gives that spinach a nice frothy texture. This drink is perfect for geeks because you can whip one up and chug it while your waiting for some files to download. Chug your dinner during the cutscenes in that game your playing.

Of course this recipe is easily modified. Get creative. Use what you have. No tomatoes? Ketchup is a vegtable (hot sauce it too right?) Use those packets you've been saving from the drive thru, what the heck.

Throw in a Red Bull for kick and flavor. Why not, you don't drink them for the flavor anyway.

Adding a Chalupa might be going to far, but maybe not. Try it and let me know. It might just be not too far enough.

McDonalds almost had it right when they put a side salad in a cup a while back. They just didn't follow through with the concept.

The only downside of this is all of the grossed out looks you get from people that actually like eating salad. But whatever, the ends justify the means (Constructive Machiavellianism at work).

Finally - salad for geeks on the go!

Mojave Desert Trilobites part 2 - Amboy, CA

2006-05-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

We made it back!

We set out at about 10:30 to the Mojave Desert. Luckily it was a very gloomy day in Riverside County which is great for a couple of pale computer guys headed to a place where they certainly aren't normally welcome.

About two and a half hours later we got off Interstate 40 at Ludlow and turned onto world famous Route 66. Not all that much there except for a coffee shop, gas station, mechanic, and motel so we kept cruising on through the desert.

Soon we came upon some interesting features in the desert.

(Apologies for the low-res camera pics)

It seems this dark volcanic material came from the Amboy volcanic crater. Very eerie actually to have this dark terrain suddenly appear in the middle of this sandy desert. Kind of an alien landscape feeling.

Anyway, right after we passed Amboy we saw the mountain that we figured had the trilobites. Not so obvious desert trails were the only way to get to where we needed to go. Needless to say, Reela was eager to introduce his new Tundra to offroading.

We started in our normal geocaching approach to navigation - the most direct route is a straight line. Who needs roads?!?!?

Well, eventually, we did. It was fun at first, then it got kind of hairy, then it looked pretty bleak, then all of a sudden we found the road again and it was fun again!

So by the time we make it to where we figured was the closest we could get to the fossils we were more than ready to get up the hill, or so we thought.

We started up, then continued up, then made basecamp for a while to catch our breath, then continued up some more. This is not the kind of terrain to take lightly. Climbimg up loose boulders with buckets, hammers and packs gets harder with every step.

We were expecting to find more traces of other peoples diggin's. So unfortunatley we headed up a little higher than we needed and had to make our way back down to the greenish-grey layers of slate that turned out to actually contain the trilobites.

Well, after a couple hours of cracking rocks, this is one of the things we found.

It's kind of hard to see, but there is an impression of a trilobite in there. We found some other interesting bits as well. So even though we didn't get any museum quality fossils, we didn't get skunked either.

So we headed back down the mountain working an entirely different muscle group and made our way out of the desert.

On our way back, we were flagged down by stranded British photographer named Ian who had gotten his car stuck in a sandy railroad access road. Poor guy, 90 degrees or so in a foreign country and the only help he could get is a couple of smelly, dirty computer geeks.

We determined that the only way out for his car was a professional tow truck so we got him back to Ludlow's aforementioned gas station. We hope you made it out of there Ian!

After a lengthy driving discussion about the world's problems and our solutions we finally made it back home to our wives waiting with our diet food (Yikes that was rough. I felt like we deserved a nice greasy burger after that mountain). Still though, those Lean Cuisine Panini's are pretty darn good for so few calories.

But all in all a great trip which we are looking forward to making again (especially since we found out from this post that we were actually not parked at the right place and you could pretty much walk up to a richer fossil bed :)

Cool stuff in the Mojave Desert! - Amboy Trilobite Roadtrip

2006-05-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

and now for something completely different...

My fellow geek friend Reela and I are headed for a trilobite hunt tomorow. A good hobby for a couple of geeks that need a break from staring at our monitors.

Our quest for info on this was pretty extensive and pretty much google-based.

This site has a great write-up from start to finish on how to find some trilobites.

The Bureau of Land Management has some good info on the area as well. Lots of rockhounding and even some gold out there as well. But heed the laws regarding claim jumping!

I'm looking forward to checking out Roy's. I'm betting this place will come in very handy for us. Not too many gas stations in the middle of nowhere.

Yep, it is the middle of nowhere. This google map is proof of that.

I'll follow up later with our results.

2006-05-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

Every Bloggers Duty

This Google Adsense thing is fun. I just can't get over the concept of having a free blog that I can make money from - which is the point of this little rant. But unfortunately, last night's little test didn't yield any results. I was warned of this. The posts you think are good get no notice and the ones you don't expect to be recognized go nuts sometimes. But I digress, I still have some ranting to do about Google Adsense.

We all buy stuff off of the internet. Since I am now signed up for Adsense, I am going to make a point to try and click through someone's site to purchase all of my stuff instead of going directly to that site.

I'm mainly being greedy here (a first on the web). I'm hoping there will be some kind of web surfing karma at work. Plus there is a lot of good content out there that will lead me to a good purchase.

I am an IT geek; Computer nerd for over twenty years now (sheesh). So over the years, the thousands of dollars spent, and the hundreds of personal items purchased, I have grown comfortable with a few specific vendors out there. FWIW - for my toys I tend to gravitate to the following sites:

Newegg
Computer Geeks
Buydig

...and quite a few others. Kind of caught in a rut I think. But for IT that can be a good thing. Build a relationship with a vendor and learn to count on them.

However, for a free market economy to work, both consumers and retailers must stay vigilant. Consumers have a duty to themselves to get the best product at the best price. In other words, we google reviews on the item we want. After finding these reviews and landing on a product to purchase, what could be easier than to just click on that ad right next to the review that just sold them on it? I say click away and throw some spare change at the person that took the time to share their experience with the world.

On the other side, retailers need to stay vigilant and market themselves effectively. They know this and the ones with a good business plan realize how we all shop in 2006 (see above). So I think as good netizens we owe it to ourselves to click through these ads; kind of like the one on the top of this page...

4. Constructive Machiavellianism

2006-05-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

Machiavelli has been identified with the idea of 'the ends justify the means'. There has always been a negative connotation to this train of thought, but I don't think this is necessarily the way it has to be interpreted.

The concept of reverse psychology is a great example of this. This tact is often employed by parents trying to get their kids to do something, very often for their own good. "Go ahead, stick that paperclip in the power outlet and see what happens." They'll never do that again. If they live, they've learned a valuable lesson. Did I mention I'm not a parent?

Many information technology people, IT drones such as myself, employ this tact daily. Even after we've told a user how spyware will make their computer unusable, they persist that they really want to know more about that miracle weight loss drug. "Sure then, go ahead and click yes on that pop-up". The next morning when you get that call about their computer taking a half hour to boot up, you know they've learned something and you won't have that conversation again (and most likely the immediate friends of this person). In this case, you have to break some eggs to make an omlette.

The same goes for the larger scheme of things in an organization. Managers have to make unpopular decisions frequently for the larger good of the organization. A manager might have to not add needed personnel to a department but only to be able to maintain salary needs for veteran staff that may, in the end, add more equity to the entire organization.

In another situation, a supervisor may push an employee into doing work that they don't necessarily enjoy, but will eventually allow this employee to move up in the organization, while the employee that was not made to do this less enjoyable work will stay in the same place in the organization and not move up. The manager employed Constructive Machiavellianism to move an employee up that in the end will benefit the entire organization and all of it's employees.

As long as the means are just, using a Machiavellian tact is not a bad thing. Constructive Machiavellianism if utilized virtuously can go a long way toward furthering your cause.

2006-05-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

Later that Night..... Still Bored

Future blahg articles:

How to build the next internet idol
Why I fear for America's future standard of living
What is success?
Constructive Machiavellianism

2006-05-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Later that day... Still bored.

Cures for boredom.

TV
Eating
Work and other wealth accumulation techniquies
Blogging
Gold Prospecting and Rock hounding
Metal Detecting
Meditation
Sleeping

2006-05-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

I'm bored.