Slobberface

Here's Loyal Reader Number Twelve with a little drooling problem. We're working on babyproofing our house in anticipation of her next arrival - she's apparently all over the place these days. We're especially worried about the dog food. Not as much as the dog will be worried about it pretty soon, though.

It's unbearably hot here in the loft tonight. Lousy air conditioner. We've had them in twice to try to fix it with no appreciable result. It's been a warm day today, but it shouldn't be this hot anywhere in this highly expensive house.

Spent the weekend camping (very nice little - tiny, actually - park with full hookups, lots of grass and trees in the single camping loop, and horseshoe pits but no horseshoes), replacing brakes (Loyal Reader Number One's rear brakes were grinding their rivets on the rotors; we replaced them after a slight struggle with reseating the pistons), and looking at game engines (right now, I'm going with Delta 3D, which is open source, can be used on commercial applications, has excellent tutorials and at least passable documentation, and appears to have a lot of people developing with it and supporting it). Also going to church and Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, of course.

Loyal Readers Numbers Five and Twelve should be here tomorrow. They're really struggling with things down there in Sixtiesville and hope to find a new way to work the employment situation out. Something good will work out for them, but it sure looks hard to them right now.

Spent some time on the phone with Loyal Reader Number Three over the weekend. We're still looking very seriously at the software company. We have yet another modest idea for a game (that makes about ten at this point) and want to see if a small team like ours can develop a PC game profitably. The jury's definitely out on that point. I think we need to research how other small teams are making a living at it and either emulate them or find a jumping off point from where they are now. In any case, we need to find a game engine and try to make something simple so we can see how much effort it takes to make something at all. That field is very crowded, but there's always room in every field for an excellent practicioner. I don't know yet if that describes us or not. I know I have very good partners who will work their tails off for something we jointly find interesting and worth doing, and that's the most important thing.

The other most important thing is to start doing something. Hence, I'm working through the Delta 3D tutorials. I read through several last night and am now going through them in much more detail, and I already understand way more about game engines than I did this time last week.

We're still not giving up on the homeschooling applications, of course. I think that may be more of a moneymaker than games. Half of our partnership is highly interested in gaming, and there's certainly more of a mass market, so we're pursuing that. At the same time, we have a deep understanding of homeschooling and many of the challenges faced by serious homeschoolers, so we're pursuing that too. I started getting LRN1's time logging application uploaded to the server, but am having problems getting Rails to work. We need to look at it more carefully. If the ISP needs to have something running and they won't, we may have to look at using our own server again. Dumb old Vizaweb. Don't do business with them. Really.

Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Napoleon

Here's a French tribute to Napoleon. Apparently, he marched through pretty much every town in France at some point, possibly just so they'd erect monuments. Kind of hard to read and kind of crooked, but it's still Great Art. I think we can all agree to that.

On the other hand, it's definitely time to take some more pictures.

Wow! Did we get comments on yesterday's posts! Here are some questions/comments and answers/comments:

Loyal Reader Number Five mentions that Loyal Reader Number Twelve loves Chocolate Malt O Meal. Very clever child. Of course, that puts my CMOM supply in pretty serious jeopardy. Where do you get yours, LRN5? It's pretty hard to find around here.

LRN5 also mentions that more LRN12 pictures are coming. Send 'em in!

Loyal Reader Number Sixteen asks if we're interested in receiving some Great Art. Of course - it's always more than welcome. Send 'em in! I even give appropriate Great Artist credit. When I remember to, anyway.

LRN16 also mentions that my non-Loyal-Reader nephew Joe is getting married. Congrats, Joe! My former boss used to say, "A man doesn't know what true happiness is until he gets married, and then it's too late." Of course, I disagree strongly with this statement. Just ask Loyal Reader Number Four for confirmation.

Anyway. I'm delighted for Joe and the poor young woman he conned into marrying him his lovely bride-to-be. Let me know if you're looking for a Best Man.

I believe LRN4's fourth-year hike is over by now. Hopefully, she survived. I suppose we might have gotten a call by now otherwise. Was it fun, LRN4? Did you survive?

No post tomorrow. We'll be camping, and I don't think they have free wireless internet service there. Maybe I'll use the Wonders of Blogger on Saturday or Sunday. But don't count on it.

Loyal Reader Number One's car started making an ugly noise today when he steps on the brakes. Probably just time for new pads, but we'll see, possibly on Saturday afternoon. Gotta keep the machine in prime condition.

I'm babbling. Time for a little more work, some ice cream, and bed. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Toys

Here's Loyal Reader Number Twelve playing with her toys. The good news about that is that she and Loyal Reader Number Five will be here sometime this week! Hooray!

No post yesterday. I just got too busy. And what was I busy doing? This. The front page now links to WaterLogger. Of course, the application's not there yet, but there are forums for it and the "About" screen has been updated too. Progress, however small, is still progress.

Traffic's been bad this week. Not much fun at all. There's just one more work day left, though, and then we're off on an overnight campout.

The boys are doing pretty well keeping up with their assignments for the week. Keep it up, Loyal Readers!

And speaking of Loyal Readers, we have a new one! Let's all give a big Morrowlife welcome to Chris, our newest addition to the list over there on the right. As soon as he can find a picture to send me, we'll have his Very Special Day.

But not tonight. I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow.

French kiddies at play

Here's the carrousel out in front of the Hotel De Ville in Cannes. I asked Loyal Reader Number Two whether this picture had appeared on these pages previously. Neither he nor I could remember, so I'm putting it up in lieu of doing any research.

Short Shrift mode again tonight. I stayed at work until about 7:20 this evening, after having arrived at about 7:05 this morning. Long day, that. Fortunately, though, I accomplished everything I set out to do. But it was already late when I got home.

Loyal Reader Number Three, one of my esteemed partners in the Gardenville Software venture, weighed in on the Waterlogger project, offering his services. I gave him the partially-done logo to either complete (the hard option) or figure out how to do better (either the easy or the very hard option). I really like Loyal Reader Number Two's design (I really like all of his artistic endeavors - he has true talent in that line, as does LRN3) - I'm just having a little bit of trouble getting it properly scanned in and colored without a bunch of ugly Gimp artifacts. Good luck, LRN3!

Otherwise, progress on Waterlogger is slow. I mentioned to LRN3 in an email this evening a saying I read recently: The difference between doing a good job and doing a bad job is much smaller than the difference between doing a bad job and doing nothing. Good quote. We've started doing something now, so we're bound to have success. Just need to concentrate.

Loyal Reader Number Four left for Girls' Camp this morning. Sadness reigns around the Secret Undisclosed Location. We hope she's already having a great time and that the week turns out to be a highlight of her summer. And don't worry, we won't eat all our meals at restaurants. There's no time for that. Maybe one or two, though.

And it's time for Family Home Evening activity. We're jacuzzifying, of course. See you tomorrow.

Speed limit 15

Here's a campground road somewhere in Virginia. It was raining that day. May 26, 2003, to be exact. It pretty much rained every time we went camping in Virginia, but we always had a great time anyway. It sure was hot and humid, though.

Friday's here! It was my "on" Friday, so I worked a full day and accomplished a bit. Took the Miata, which wanted to overheat. I can seem to stop it if I either turn the heater on full blast or turn the air conditioner on full blast. Any theories, Loyal Readers? I have just one, and it's not the thermostat, which would be unaffected by the a/c. I think it has to be the cooling fan. Which is unfortunate, since I don't really know how to fix that particular problem. Off to the shop it must go.

Otherwise a quiet day, as are most. We're going to the stake Pioneer Day celebration tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll remember to bring my camera and capture some Great Art. Or maybe not - I remember hearing somebody tell us we need to be prepared to get wet. And my camera is definitely not prepared for that.

Anyway. I need to do some work on the new website, so have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Big Sur river yet again

Here's one more look at the Big Sur river. Have I mentioned it was a beautiful place? Well, it was. That's the ocean way back in the background.

Terse post tonight. Possibly even perfunctory. It's late again and I absolutely must get more sleep tonight.

I've started listening to The Innocents Abroad again this evening. I had downloaded it and listened to the first 25 chapters during our trip home from Mesa a few weeks ago. We never finished it, so I will now. Very amusing book and highly recommended, as is everything written by Twain.

I figured out the perfect job for Loyal Reader Number Two on the data logging project: he can write the help and readme files. He's an excellent writer. Now I just need to get everybody working on the project. It's really easy to dream and talk about doing something like this, but it's a lot harder to actually do it. I think the key to success (link warning: BYU Forum address on how to write - video and sound version) in lots of things is just to sit down and do it. It has to be something somebody wants, of course, but a lot of good ideas die before birth. I'm trying to make sure this one doesn't. Get to work, Loyal Readers! Me too!

See you tomorrow.

Mad dog

Here's an older picture of Loyal Pet Number One, back when she still had her red harness. She just can't look fierce no matter how hard she tries.

No post yesterday. We went to the annual Oakland Temple pageant and didn't get home until way too late to blog. Tonight was Wednesday-go-to-meeting night, but I have an obligation to my Loyal Readers, so there will be a little something here.

The pageant was very nice. There was a good spirit about it and we approved of the story. High points: great sets, very fine special effects (angel appearances were especially well-done), good singing from the balcony choir. Things to work on next year: the orchestra's horns weren't really with the program, the angel dance didn't really fit in, and some of the rest of the choreography was too ambitious for the skill level of the dancers. Taken all together, though, they did a very nice job and I'm glad we saw it.

Loyal Reader Number One's weekend campout at the Chain Lakes was officially cancelled yesterday. They couldn't find enough adults to go. However, a few of them are going unoficially tomorrow anyway. LRN1 was looking forward to it so much that he's decided to go, in spite of the unofficial, uninsured nature of the event. Have a good time, LRN1!

Quiet day today. I stayed at work about forty minutes late, having driven again today. I got home about fifteen minutes later than usual, so it wasn't the worst possible drive.

I've started re-watching an old movie called The Milky Way, starring Harold Lloyd, one of the few silent film actors who was just as good in talkies. It's a cute story about a wimpy milk truck driver who accidentally knocks out the middleweight champion and becomes a big-time boxer without ever realizing he doesn't really know how to box. Recommended.

We're seriously working on getting LRN1's web-based homeschool time logging program on the internet and being used by a wider audience. The immediate goal is to get maybe half a dozen beta testers, followed by widespread use at their school. After that, it will hopefully be ready for a wider homeschooler audience next year and possible money-making. There's a lot of work to be done in the short term to get it ready for even limited beta testing use, but I think we can have it ready by the time school starts. It won't be as pretty as it will eventually be, but it should be working. LRN1 needs to get the email functionality working, I need to get the website up and running with access to the application and a help/suggestion/discussion forum working, and Loyal Reader Number Four is working on a draft website design. What with all the campouts coming up in the next week or two, it will be a challenge, but we'll make it.

Loyal Reader Number Two is spending the night with a friend. Have a great time LRN2! And what assignment would you like in the time-logging project?

Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Very odd

Here's Loyal Reader Number One several years ago. I can't figure it out either.

Fine weekend, wasn't it? The weather here in Lardville was beautiful, we got lots of satisfying work done on Saturday, and we actually got some time to rest on Sunday, in addition to pleasant church meetings. What's not to like?

I tried the simple fix on the Miata on Saturday and drove it to work today to see if it cured the overheating problem. No joy. I'm going to try replacing the thermostat next weekend and if that doesn't work, it's off to the shop. I can't live with the car not running right.

Loyal Reader Number Four's non-Loyal-Reader sister arrived safely today.

- Pause for Family Home Evening and spa relaxation -

I'm back and relaxed. Time for brownie and bed.

Anyway. The sister-in-law arrived today and we've had a nice evening visiting. The rest of the Loyal Family spent the day in Sacramento. They went to an aerospace museum up there that was having a Leonardo DaVinci exhibit. They said the museum was fairly small but had numerous interesting exhibits. The boys especially liked getting inside a few of the cockpits and playing around with the controls, something which you're not likely to be allowed to do in, say, the Smithsonian. In fact, I'm not sure they were strictly allowed to do it here either. They're not in jail tonight, so either it was allowed or they got away with it.

I spent most of the day today running a test, which was a first for me. I've been managing testing for the last year but hadn't actually been the driver before. I'm glad to have gotten a little bit of experience. I need a lot more before I become effective.

It's late already, so I'll see you tomorrow.

Cannon

Here's a nasty-looking piece of weaponry. Loyal Reader Number One took this picture at Alcatraz. I'm not sure what they planned on using it for. Cannons just aren't much help at keeping prisoners under control.

Happy Friday the Thirteenth! Nothing bad happened to me today. I think it's bad luck to believe in superstition. How was your day?

Well, another work week has come and gone. Today was a fine day. I spent some time in the lab, which I have been wanting to do for some time. We didn't get anything accomplished, but I did learn some. Mostly, I learned that my people have been unfairly villified in the past by people who have sabotaged them pretty badly. I'm ready to fight back.

Good news about the Sable - it appears that yesterday's garage floor puddle was just water. It's gone today, so it certainly wasn't oil. Nobody has any idea where the water came from, but we'll just keep an eye out and go get the oil leak fixed next week.

More good news! Loyal Reader Number Four has an appointment for the Honda to get its windshield replaced next Friday.

Also, I have one more idea to try on the Miata's overheating problem. I actually read yesterday's blog link on this subject and think there's an idea worth trying - apparently, there's an "overflow" hose between the thermostat housing and the water pump. If that hose gets clogged, the thermostat doesn't want to open until pressure really builds up behind it. Other people have reported behavior essentially identical to mine and cleaning out the overflow hose cured it. It still doesn't explain why it only happens when I'm stopped in traffic, though. Maybe it's because the thermostat can open partway under normal circumstances, which is enough to keep it cool when I'm moving but not enough for when I'm stopped.

But I still suspect the fans. Might as well eliminate one more possibility before it goes to the shop, though.

I took the 4:00 train today, which has wifi, so I'm actually typing this directly into Blogger on the train. If I can find some Great Art on this machine, I'll actually post during the trip. There should be plenty of time - the conducter got on the loudspeaker and told us there's some kind of problem with a train up ahead of us, and we're going about two miles per hour right now. I'm not sure what the problem was because I was listening to Click and Clack on my iPod, but I don't expect to be home on time.

Let's see, what else is going on? The weekend should be pretty busy - I need to work on the Miata's overheating problem, as mentioned above, build the screen around the air conditioner, swim, relax, wash a few cars, and probably do a bunch of cleaning in preparation for LRN4's sister's arrival on Monday.

Sunday's projected meeting load is pretty low at this point. I ought to go home teach my two less-active people. We haven't been able to find one couple for several months now, and I don't know if they've moved or not. They had sold their house to a developer, so it's entirely possible they've moved already. It doesn't really look like they're gone, but we certainly can't find them. We also need to see the shirtless guy, who we really like. He lives in an old trailer that lost half of its electricity several months ago, and he hasn't been able to find anybody to fix it. I've made arrangements for an electrician friend to go with me and work on it, so we need to get an appointment. I certainly wouldn't like living in a half-dark house. He's just been using extension cords to get light in the dark half, which would drive me absolutely bonkers. I hope we can help him.

Anyway. I think I'll get back to the iPod now. See you on Monday!

Killer pet

Here's Loyal Reader Number Two in our yard in Virginia being brutally attacked by a vicious Loyal Pet a few years back. He got better. Photo courtesy of an unknown person or persons, but probably Loyal Reader Number Four. Photo also courtesy of my first junky digital camera.

Drove the Miata to work today. It overheated three times that I noticed. Very annoying. When I sit in traffic, it heats up to its limit and then cools back down. As long as I keep moving, it's fine. It seems obvious to me that the cooling fan isn't coming on when it should and then there's some safety switch that turns both fans on just before it overheats. I've tested the fan and it seemed to be fine, though, so I don't know what's going on. I think it needs to go to the shop.

Which is too bad, since the Sable needs to go to the shop to fix its oil leak - and a new, serious leak of something clear right behind the engine. Sigh.

And the Honda needs to go to the shop to fix its broken windshield and the dent somebody put in the quarter panel several months ago. Double sigh.

And the Taurus may need to go to the shop too. Loyal Reader Number One reported this evening that its Check Engine light came on twice today. Triple sigh. We may be reduced to walking before long. I'm not sure why this is all happening at once - our checking account balance isn't high enough to trip the Automatic Car Breakdown function.

Otherwise a quiet day. I got up (just a little late), went to work, worked, came home, ate, and sat down to work on the blog. Just like every other day. It's hard to be interesting when that's the sum total of your day. Maybe I'll do something interesting over the weekend. Yeah, that's the ticket. I'll let you know.

See you tomorrow.

Rock stander

Here's Loyal Reader Number Two standing on a rock, staring steely-eyed into the future. At Big Sur, of course. We really need to go somewhere else sometime.

It's 7-11 day! Celebrate with a Slurpee. Or a two-day-old hot dog. Or a frozen burrito. Or my favorite, a nice big cup of hot chocolate with vanilla-flavored creamer. Your choice.

For those few Loyal Readers who may not be able to figure out what I'm talking about, today is the eleventh day of July, the seventh month. Hence, 7-11 day.

Anyway. I'm on the train again this afternoon. The weather has cleared back up and warmed back up. It was quite cloudy, much cooler, and looked like rain yesterday (it didn't rain, of course), which I didn't expect. We appreciated the break in the heat, of course. It looks like it will be a little cooler for the next week or so - highs in the 80's and low 90's.

The pool has gotten quite comfortable. The water is in the upper 80's now, which is good enough to step right into. We've been in it and the spa a few times already this week. They say swimming pools get as warm as bathwater in Lardville during the summer. We'll see how it is in August.

Loyal Reader Number Three showed me a cute little computer game last week. It's called Sumotori Dreams. It's robot sumo wrestling, it's small, and it's fun. After a round ends, the robots lose their balance and try to bow to each other. Very amusing and highly recommended for a few minutes' relaxation.

Of course, I still recommend Flow as well.

That's it for today. See you tomorrow, and new Great Art subjects should be arriving soon.

Bright eyes

Here's Loyal Reader Number Twelve yet again. Now that's the look I like to see. Photo courtesy of Loyal Reader Number Five.

Good afternoon! I'm writing offline on the train today. The going-home train has no internet connectivity, which is really not much worse than the morning train, which has mainly-dysfunctional connectivity. Didn't ride the right morning train either, having gone to bed way too late last night.

I'm still working on the future software company. The latest idea, which is really just for fun and has no saleability to it at all, is for my own version of Wikipedia. The idea is to make my own Wikipedia with articles about myself, the Loyal Readers, and the Loyal Pets. Any queries on other topics would be passed through to the actual Wikipedia. I've downloaded MediaWiki and some documentation and am figuring out whether I can just configure it to pass unknown queries on to another website or whether I need to play with some code. Either way, I think it will be pretty simple. When I get it running, I'll let the Loyal Reader know so they can help me test it out.

Obviously, there's nothing to be sold here, but it does help me get my head into some code. Wish me luck.

Other pending projects: software that lets you scan your groceries in when you bring them home and out when you use them. It could be used for food storage or just for keeping track of what you have in the house. We could give the software away and charge for scanning hardware, or make a free version and a pay version with more functionality, such as the ability to print custom labels for home-canned food or other things that don't already have barcodes. I think there's some profit there, especially for keeping track of food storage.

Our best current project idea, though, is Loyal Reader Number One's program to log educational activities for homeschoolers. The great thing about it is that it's a web application with a server and a database. We could give it away to people who want to run their own server and database or sell server/database services to people who don't want to or can't set up their own system. We could do a little networking in our own school group and get a few beta testers. After that, it just might spread a little further.

I now have five people who have accepted my job offers, four of whom are pretty senior. I've started the ball rolling towards closing my remaining senior-level requisitions. I'm still looking for junior people, though. Strangely, my boss has no idea (link warning: very small bit of sound - also, this band has health insurance!) how many people she wants me to hire. How will I know when I'm done?

Time to watch some Blackadder the Third. See you tomorrow.

Campground

Here's a view of the campground at Big Sur. I think it looks kind of like an RV industry ad, don't you? That whole state park was a pretty good camping industry ad, now that I think of it.

No post last Friday. We were having too good of a time. The visit to Mesa was great and the trip home on Saturday was comfortable and timely. We were invited to a friend's house for a barbecue right after we got home. Since we were just walking in the door, we were excused from bringing anything, so we just had a relaxing, pleasant evening chatting with friends. Sunday was as busy as usual but pleasant. I'd like to have a really restful Sabbath sometime soon, but it's also nice to visit with people and even the meetings aren't bad.

My brother-in-law Ken dropped in unexpectedly this afternoon. He was traveling through the area and likes to visit when he's nearby. We enjoyed his too-short visit. Melanie is coming to spend the week next week, so we were just speculating that he was doing a pre-trip inspection for her. Now that's service.

And I need to quit already - time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Two gulls

Here's yet another in my famous bird series. These two fellas are Alcatraz residents. Photo courtesy of Loyal Reader Number One.

Happy Independence Day! Yesterday! We had a nice, quiet day, culminating in Loyal Reader Number Three and I going to see the fireworks at the neighborhood community college. We got out a little bit late and arrived at the grandstand just as the fireworks were starting. Perfect timing. Loyal Readers Numbers Five and Twelve were with us, and LRN12 definitely would not have enjoyed the fireworks, so bunches of people stayed home and watched a movie (link warning: movie-related music) on TV.

Anyway, the fireworks show was quite good and we were only out of the house for a few minutes or so.

Went to see my brother and nephew in Tucson this afternoon and evening - we just got home a few minutes ago. We went out to dinner at a fairly nice Mexican restaurant. The food was good but the service was pathetically slow. I complained and they gave us a bunch of money off along with numerous apologies. No problem.

While we were at my brother's house, I had occasion to exercise the zipper on the brand-new pair of shorts I was wearing. It turns out that the zipper was sewn in defectively and it chose that moment to come apart. It took several minutes and Loyal Reader Number Four's help to get the wardrobe malfunction put back together. In the meantime, my brother was wondering what was taking me so long. Dumb old shorts.

And now it's time for bed. See you tomorrow, on the last day of our visit to Mesa.

Hanging out

Here are Loyal Readers Numbers Six and Twelve just hanging out. Isn't she cute? Photo courtesy of Loyal Reader Number Five, who will be joining us tomorrow.

Greetings from hot, sunny Mesa, Arizona! We got here this afternoon, after a pleasant afternoon and evening at my cousin's house in hot, sunny Southern California. They're having a heat wave both here and there, so we've been uncomfortably warm from time to time. Loyal Readers Numbers Three and Fifteen's apartment is comfortably cool, fortunately. It was 113 degrees here today, and it apparently doesn't get much cooler overnight.

No post yesterday - no connection available.

The trip has been comfortable and easy so far. Poor LRN3 had car trouble today and his hot rod was stuck at the local 7-11 when we got here. He and I went over there to try to either figure its problem out (it would crank but wouldn't start) or get it towed somewhere. We had tried just about everything we could think of. Finally, I unplugged the coil wire from the distributor and tested it for spark, which was good. I plugged it back in and asked LRN3 to crank it again to test a plug wire, which I had unplugged. He cranked it for a moment and it started immediately. I plugged the wire back in and it's been running perfectly ever since. My guess is that the coil wire's connection inside the distributor cap had gotten oxidized and the removal and reinsertion cleaned up the connection. We were certainly surprised when it started.

Lots more to talk about, but I'll wait until tomorrow for that. XBox 360 is waiting for me. See you tomorrow.