Posted in IKEA Cluster, Uncategorized on Oct 24th, 2013
Yes! Web-scale home electricity tracking, because why not! For the longest time I’ve been using the Kill-A-Watt meter to measure home power usage, especially all of my computer gear. The problem is, you only get a LCD readout, no way to store that info over time. A friend told me how he was using Insteon […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 1st, 2013
Takes two weeks off from work, plans to go to Death Valley and maybe Yosemite. Government shuts down all national parks, barricades roads, evicts campers two days in.
Posted in IKEA Cluster, Uncategorized on Feb 17th, 2013
A couple of months ago I acquired a stack of Raspberry Pis because they were so hard to get, might as well get it over with. Of course, once I got them they went untouched for weeks. I eventually started selling off part of my stash to other coworkers to help spread the fun. After […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 17th, 2013
It’s been fantastically warm this weekend for once, enough to get me outside long enough to notice my plants have started budding/flowering! The pink jasmine, lavender, and this succulent are all showing signs of new life. I’m taking a couple of weeks of vacation soon, which will be awesome. I don’t have many ideas on […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 31st, 2012
I’m in a quasi-contemplative mood (and sick with a cold) and I wanted to add my own version to go with all of the 2012-in-review stories I keep seeing on the news. To be honest, 2012 has been an exercise in existence and not so much actual living. The good: After basically a decade of […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 10th, 2012
This summer I discovered the Arduino and was completely fascinated by how simple it was to rig up things like circuits, sensors, motors, servos, whatever and make it do real things. And it was cheap! I never have really tried my hand at microcontrollers or hardware hacking despite having a bit of the ham radio […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 1st, 2012
Tidy Cat “multi-cat long lasting” (orange) litter + Felix = endless digging and flinging of litter all over the bedroom, despite even weekly changing of litter and soapy wash of litter pan and daily scooping Tidy Cat “multi-cat instant action” (cyan) litter + Felix = instant, overnight stop to flinging; vacuum cleaner rejoices, litter lasts for weeks […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 16th, 2012
Gather round, it’s time for the old person to tell a story about how things used to be! Mid-Late 1990s: no such thing as mobile, I stuck in my 3com PCMCIA card and dialed somebody like CRIS or long distance into my own ISP’s modems. I have flip phones through US Cellular and they frequently […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 10th, 2012
I can’t believe it’s Friday again already. I feel like I’m swimming through the week now. I don’t really understand what’s going on the past few weeks. Am I so busy that I ignore half the day, is it so routine there’s nothing to remember, or is the universe contracting?
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 5th, 2012
I can’t believe it’s already August. AUGUST. I’ve lived in California for 6 months now and time has just flown by. I’m having trouble accepting that. I feel like I need to be out exploring all the time since it’s all new, but man, it’s nice sitting out on the balcony in the sun and […]
