Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Extreme Sheep LED Art

This is actually pretty awesome!

Friday, November 15, 2013

What Kind of D&D Character Would You Be?

My old geeky D&D side in me go curious. :) The only real surprise is I like technology so being placed as Druid seemed odd.

I Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Druid (6th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-12
Constitution-10
Intelligence-13
Wisdom-12
Charisma-12

Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it. Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be because it represents true freedom from both society's restrictions and a do-gooder's zeal. However, chaotic neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all authority, harmony, and order in society.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

iOS 7

Put it on the work phone and actually like most of the look and feel of it. Still getting use to the new stuff as I updated last night after work gave the to ahead.

I honestly did my best to not follow all the news about it on the net as most of the time it was people bitching about how they hated it.

I think the only thing I have not liked in it is the new "egg timer" graphic for apps that are updating. I'd rather have the thermometer back as I group my apps in collections and the new "egg timer" block the whole collection and is not very visable. 

Friday, September 20, 2013

Memories from Youth

I am sitting here at work and have my iPod going on shuffle when "Treason" by Naked Raygun comes on.

Now I have not heard this song in years (thank you iPod Shuffle for not being truly random and plying the same 20 songs over and over out of the 3500+ in my collection....but I digress) and it reminded me when I was younger on how I joined a church because of a girl*.

Now the song did not remind me of the girl specifically and there was no "treason" done by her or me.

What makes this song special is that at this church there was a festival week where they asked some of us youth to perform on stage for people visiting the festival on youth night. My friend Justin (who was already in a band at the time) and I agreed to do sing two songs for the festival with a "house" band. We both did "edited" Naked Raygun songs. By edited I mean I tweaked a line or two in the lyrics to make them more Christian because the church was a small "Born Again" Evangelical church. Justin sung the edited version of "Treason" and I sung the edited version of "Understand?". It was fun and the the people like what we did.

I think that was the only time outside of Teaching Japanese and Basic Web Development for work where I wasn't paralyzingly frightened of being in front of people.

Just thought I'd share.

Thanks for reading
Jason


*We never dated she liked someone else and I was always "friend-zoned".... story of my High School Dating career LOL.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Nokia 1020

First impressions (vs iPhone):

Pros

Great Camera (still learning to use it and all the options --more to come later with that)

HUGE Size

I like the live tiles, but still getting use to them.

Sound quality is great on  calls

Cons

iOS default email does a better job integrating with hotmail than MS does. It appears if there is a email sub-folder you need to keep track of you need to push it to a live tile to get notified that a new message was pushed into it.

Single volume control. I miss at least a separate volume control for music.

No DND setting other than putting phone face down (then it just mutes everything). I still need my phone to ring between 2200 & 0600 but I do not need to hear every email alert or text message at the same time.

Can not link my dropbox folders as an album in the default picture manager.

Not really a Pro or Con:

Lack of apps but we will see what I miss and can't live without as time goes on.

Arranging the tiles is a bit fidgety but I like that you can re-size them as needed.

The WP Mac App is nice.

Calls on the phone sound better than my GS2 ever was and reception has been better as well (especially with having LTE now).

Work pays for my iPhone 4S and it can be used for personal calls as well but I still wanted a separate cell for calls that I do not want tracked on my work phones (i.e. photography, legal, and medical calls).

I really like the iPhone (and will probably upgrade to what ever the next version is when my renewal hits for work) but am trying to separate work and home life as I've been overly burnt on being "off work" and being too assessable especially on the weekends when I try to take care of my son so my wife can have a break.

More to come as I use it.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Babies have two settings

You know they say babies show signs of hunger before going into a full blow cry. Why is it unless you watch them like a hawk you miss it and they go into full blow siren shrieking mode for food?

Why can't they have three modes? Like a grunt or something that comes just before the howling cry? That would be awesome!! At least then I'd have a chance to appease my little guy before my ears ring in pain.

I love my little Graham but man... it would be nice to have a medium setting between the calm cute side and the howling blood curtling needy side.




Sunday, July 21, 2013

So I am a Father now...

It is a very happy and tiring time in my life becoming a new father. I honestly love it and hate it but I think all new parents go through this. Having your life turned upside down, then thinking you may have a handle on it only to have the little one throw more curveballs at you then Roy Halladay throwing a no hitter.

So to honor our little bundle of Joy that is our son Graham and to celebrate life with him I made a new blog about him: Graham Crackers.

I think now I better understand Jonathan Coulton's song: "You Ruined Everything" now. It makes the song even better after Graham's birth.

Jason

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Getting Closer to kiddo hour.

Today Andrea and I did a little nesting.... by nesting I mean we tried to pile everything in the spare room more into one corner so there was just just a bit more cleared space on the floor than have everything spread over.

We really need to find a house. We know the kiddo will come before we are able to move into it even if we find one in the next few weeks.  It would just give a nice feeling to know we would finally have room for all our stuff and the kiddo without feeling like we are rapidly running out of space.


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

32 Weeks...

Andrea is now at 32 weeks being pregnant.
This past Saturday was her baby shower so now we have all this baby stuff in the apartment.

Suddenly I feel like "OMG Baby is coming soon!!!!!!"


Monday, May 13, 2013

How to feel small

Step 1: Go here: http://htwins.net/scale2/
Step 2: Click start once site is loaded
Step 3: Move Slider to the right
Step 4: Realize how tiny we are compared to the universe as a whole.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Reorganizing Part One

Over the last few weeks I have been on the fence about making the jump to only use my laptop as my main everyday computer. I use it a lot more than my desktop and lately due to the shear size of the PC case under my desk it has been getting in the way she trying to do work at home.

So I ordered a nice laptop stand, a USB 3.0 hub and an adapter to use one of my two 24" monitors as a second screen for my laptop. This set up will let me still use a keyboard and mouse on the slide out tray so I can still be somewhat ergonomic and not be slouched over my desk top killing my back. The USB Hub is for plugging in all my external drives for making backups of the pictures I take along with my Keyboard and iPhone/iPod.

I don't always use the laptop screen. When I do it's usually so I can have YouTube/Netflix playing in the background while doing work on the larger screen. It's pretty easy to to take off the stand and go sit on the couch with the laptop as well when Andrea sit together and do house searches.

Here is the desk now:



To my right there is now writing room and a place for my feet as well (next to the black laptop lap cushion under the desk). Which is really nice to have when studying items for work or photography and writing notes on it.

In addition I have my email, contacts and calendars all synchronized and forwarding into one place (iCloud) as well for better management. The iCloud interface is not as nice as Hotmail or Gmail but until Hotmail and Outlook for Mac match what you get from Outlook on the PC then it's just easier to forward my Hotmail account for now.

So far it's been nice to use this setup and not have to worry about synchronizing things across my Skydrive account between machines. Also nice have Lightroom and Photoshop Elements available to use anytime I want instead of being on my PC and having to switch to my laptop. The only draw back so far is giving up my Logitech wireless headset as they do not have drivers for it. I do have a nice corded headset that works great for when I need it.

Now if I can just get organized and find about another 40 hours in a week to catch up on project work I'd be all set!

Thanks for reading.
Jason

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Slowly but surely....


Health Assessment was today at work (I will get $150 for doing it).

Weight 223 (Down from 226 in Jan when I started to work out, I have gown down in pants size more than weight)
Height 5'10"
BP 109/70
BF 30.0%
BMI 32.0
TC 189 (Down from 210 since last May**)
HDL 30
TRIG 174
LDL 124
TC/HDL 6.3
Glucose 93 (Down from 105 since last May**)

I do work out almost every morning but with my back injury and pain it is a very long slow road. Even stretching causes severe pain sometimes and requires I skip a day or two before the pain goes away so I do not keep aggravating it.

I really do wish I could workout at a more vigorous level. As it would be a lot easier on my back if that weight in my gut was gone faster.

I can't wait fore warmer weather either so Andrea and I can go walking more. With the snow and ice on the ground right now neither of us want to slip and fall on it. Me because of my back and Andrea because she is Pregnant.


**I can only remember these two values since my last one.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Changes

Well since the first of the year many things have taken place.

I've spent a lot of time working on my photography and sharing the experiences in my photo blog instead of posting here more.

I've also been starting to prepare for a new addition to the family with my wife.
NewYearsResolution

I have especially been trying to read up on some new "owner's manuals".


Because of all that is taking place moving forward this blog will be changing a bit and moving away from a lot of the random silly things I use to post here to something more in line with talking about my life on a more personal level.

I may or may not talk about the technological side of my life (e.g. work and being a IT Professional). I'm still debating that right now. I was thinking of resurrecting my never used Tech Blog for that but like I stated I have to think more about it.

Thank you for reading.

Jason



Monday, January 21, 2013

My Response to the Discussion


Now Huffington post is now writing about it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/white-privilege-class-at-_n_2489997.html Does this validate the discussion more for those reading that hate Fox News? Huffington Post can be just as biased leaning Left in reporting news just as much as Fox is leaning Right.

I don’t mean to start my response with a blatant Troll but if you want to make comments about one news agency then please tell me where I can find true unbiased news.  Honestly I feel most our news agencies do a piss poor job of being unbiased and showing only what they want to show with heavy political slants instead of honestly bringing both sides of an issue for true reporting and discussion. Ratings are King after all and you can’t be profitable in the News without generating them through sensationalism for the people to eat up sometimes.

However that is another topic that does not fit into the one at hand here.

I want to be clear that I have nothing against the teacher. I am glad to see that this class is being taught and I also don’t think the class should be stopped from being taught.

What I have issue with is the part where "white guilt" and the “Doll test” comes into play as part of the course. I truly believe more diversity needs to be taught in schools. I believe that more critical thinking should be taught as well. I also believe diversity should not be taught just in its own separate class but as part of a school’s American History, Literature, and Humanities classes. 

Our history and culture is made up of more than “White History”. Even when we all were in High School together that was something I disliked and talked about with Mr. Keefe (and Mr. Love after taking his Sociology class).  This is also why I originally wanted to be a History Teacher when I first thought about going to University because I felt that we did not teach a balanced view of our History.

As Crist said and was quoted in both articles:
[“A lot of red flags go up in my mind when I look at the materials," Crist told Fox News. "Ideally, you would want to present one theory that might be way on the left and another theory that may be way on the right and if you find one in the middle you can present that too … now you have a well-rounded discussion, in my opinion.”]

This quote to me highlights what I believe as well. Children should be taught how to think not what to think.  Give information from all sides and teach them look at it all critically to form an opinion for themselves based on that evidence then have a discussion about the opinions the student forms. Teaching kids to feel guilty for who/what they were born as no matter the color of skin does not promote critical thinking. It perpetuates the racial theories such as “white privilege” when we need to get rid of it. Yes white privilege exists in some areas of society still. However you can’t look that theory without looking at non-whites that have broken that theory as well (Neil deGrasse Tyson and France Anne Cordova just to name two off the top of my head). You also can’t discount the number of poor whites that are treated just as unfairly by the wealthy (of all racial colors). 

You also can’t look at this theory without looking at and discussing the amount of people that would rather receive government handouts than strive to better themselves to improve their conditions. This is also happening across racial lines.

The Delavan Wal-Mart is not a good place for the Doll test. The Doll test fails because stores will stock what sells. That is not racially based it is consumer based. Stores are there to make a profit and if item A sells more than item B then item A is going to be stocked on shelves more. Again that is not racially motivated, that is not White man being oppressive that is pure economics 101 at work. If you go to a Wal-Mart on the north side of Milwaukee you will see more ethnically colored dolls than white dolls.

The question gets raised when you look at the economic and population statistics how is having students go into a store where the dominant purchasing population is White and that the store will stock inventory based on that demographic going to help students understand “white privilege”? What true facts is the teacher trying to convey in this lesson?

(Delavan population statistics base on 2010 census: The racial makeup of the city was 81.2% White, 1.7% African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 12.7% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 29.4% of the population. Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delavan,_Wisconsin )

Maybe I’m too “Utopian” in my thinking. Maybe the life lessons I have learned over the last 20 years are all wrong.

Maybe the lessons I learned from being in the Military where you see the Race line wiped away and redrawn again between soldiers on a daily basis or from living overseas in Asia for a year and interacting with Korean University Students to learn their perspective on understanding why they disliked American Soldiers.

Or having a non-White South African professors teaching in my Diversity and Sociology classes at University that strove to give students a view point from people that have worked to overcome race and class based stereo types and prejudices.

Or from working for global technology and manufacturing companies where I interact with Americans of all backgrounds as well as people from all over Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia have given me a unique social view on how we need to move forward as a human race that is completely off base.

But I truly believe that it is possible for anyone of any race, color, creed, sexual orientation and even religion to better themselves and that it is achievable for anyone willing to work for it. That the need to teach our history in a manner that shows the good and bad without condensation or guilt placed on children for actions that are not their own is greater than ever if we want our nation and our human race as a whole to move forward to untie and unravel the racial prejudices, stereotypes and modes of thinking we have consistently dragged along with us. 


Edit: Original Fox News Article that came out first is here: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/public-school-teaches-white-privilege-class.html