This webpage about simulating life in the Navy had me cracking up. If you don’t get them, don’t worry: it’s 54 inside jokes.

Some samples:

5. Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawnmower.
6. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays turn your water temperature up to 190 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday, turn it down to 50 degrees. On Saturdays and Sundays, declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is “secured”.
7. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.

Ah, I miss those days (not).

I added a link to the blog of my new coworker Larry Karnowski. Like a surprising number of people at Oculan, Larry is quite multitalented. Not only is he a Sierra Hotel coder, he is also a music conniseur as well as a volunteer firefighter. He writes a damn good blog.

Pay a visit to Larry and tell him I sent ya. (You can do that because unlike this site, Larry’s lets you leave comments. ) 🙂

While in my local Target store the other day, I spied a familiar sight on the toy shelf: an electronic football game much like the one my brothers and I wore out as a kid.

Mattel has re-released their Mattel Classic Games, meaning you can now drive a new generation nuts with electronic beeps and buzzes. Will they compare to the GameCube’s of today? Maybe not in their technological prowess, but they’re still mighty fun!

Rock on!

I’ve been too busy to blog much lately. Lots of my offtime was spent in getting my Zaurus back in working order. I brought it into work earlier this week with the aim of getting things set up to sync with my desktop. Instead, I wound up breaking the networking in it to the point where it wouldn’t connect to the network at all.

I used the opportunity to start over with the Zaurus, installing the newest ROM. Boy am I glad I did! The Z’s interface has been redesigned, with lots of apps easier to use and the filemanager better integrated. Plus, the networking support for my Socket WiFi card is included. Major kewl.

I still can’t sync over the network with the new Qtopia desktop, and the email client lacks SSL support, but other than that I’m pretty happy with my Z. There’s a lot of computing power packed into this little handheld.

I should also mention that completely killed my Win98 installation during my work to upgrate the Z’s ROM. Problem apparently was in the way I installed USB drivers I didn’t need. The error was completely mine and not the fault of Sharp, but it did cause me lots of grief.

I may take the time to upgrade to XP or W2K on my home desktop (in addition to Red Hat Linux, of course).

As if the FCC’s bonehead decision to relax broadcast ownership rules wasn’t bad enough (did they sit around thinking “You know, I just don’t think the media monopolies are big enough?”), now comes word from Declan McCullagh that the FCC is considering taxing cable modems.

Now the FCC is wondering whether it’s high time to tax both DSL and cable modems at the same rate. Its February 2002 request for comment questioned “whether other facilities-based providers of broadband Internet access services (should) be required to contribute” to the fund.

The telecom boondoggle didn’t end with the bankruptcy of Worldcom. It’s still going on, perpetuated by the FCC. I knew trouble was brewing back when the government got the bright idea to auction the public’s airwaves to the highest bidder. Awash in new-found money (but who cares if it was based on fraud?), Congress actually factored the spectrum auctions into balancing the federal budget. Now that the telecom bubble has burst and the public’s airwaves aren’t being greedily snatched up anymore, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the hungry FCC is seeking other ways to feed itself.

I think its high time fellow Americans held the FCC responsible for screwing up this country’s media. I plan to do my part by reminding my representatives to do their jobs.

Last Tuesday night I went to a SkyWarn training class held at the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society meeting. It was a Advanced Spotter’s Class, and covered in-depth how to identify features of severe weather.

The class began at 7:30 and was over two hours long and extremely thorough. Jeff Orrock, the Raleigh NWS meterologist giving the class, provided a wealth of information, almost to the point of trying to cram six years of meterology training into two hours. By the end of it, my head was blissfully spinning with wall and shelf clouds and a handful of RARS members were snoring in their seats.

It sounds bizarre, but I’m kind of looking forward to seeing severe weather (only if no one gets hurt, of course). I feel kind of like the firefighter who’s a secret pyromaniac, though fortunately for you I can’t create the weather. 🙂

The Advanced Spotter’s Guide I got in class was a black-and-white version and not very useful because the photos were too dark. I found a color PDF version here. Here’s a PDF of the Basic Spotter’s Guide, too.

I had my first demo call as a Sales Engineer at Oculan Friday. I flew solo and did a decent job, from the feedback I got.

The customer, a CEO of a small but busy company, derailed my plans for a scripted demo almost immediately. My pulse quickened when I heard the words “rather than sit through a PowerPoint presentation, just tell me what a network engineer would have to hear to want to buy this.” I proceeded to relate my experience as an IT manager to the product, being honest in explaining how much easier it makes network security. It must have made an impression, as I heard later that he wrote my explaination down.

Afterwards, I was a bundle of energy, having hours of pent-up nervousness to burn. I decided before the call that I would try a trick used by all-star athletes: visualization. I visualized being not only completely ready for the demo, but being completely confident, too. At the very least, it gave my mind something to hang onto when the demo veered wildly off course. When my rehearsed pitch got sidetracked, I held things together by remembering how I was simply going to kick ass. I think it worked.

Though my effort on Friday was passable, I am still rusty with the product. I’m tagging along for a sales visit on Thursday, so I get another chance to test my skillz. I can only get better…

Today is the 36th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, an unarmed surveillance ship patrolling in international waters.

As a former spook, the attack on the Liberty hits close to home. Thirty four men died without the world knowing why. Thirty-six years later, both the governments of Israel and the United States refuse to admit what happened.

I won’t rehash things here, but I suggest you click on the above link for more information.

I’m writing this on highway 64 as we drive 70 MPH on our way to Virginia. I’m using PCS Vision to do it. Pretty impressive, in my book.

When I got in my car this morning, the tripometer showed “133.7” Man, everything’s going my way!

I might sneak in another post while we’re driving. In the meantime, I plan on hacking Asterisk PBX to work on the Zaurus. My goal is to turn my Zaurus into a WiFi phone. Uber geek points if I succeed.