Photo of the week (June 30th 2006)

Photo of the week (June 30th 2006)




This is outside the Supreme Court on September 9th 2005. The Chief Justice had just passed away. After seeing this photo my mentor at work inquired sensitively, "Did you get to poke Rehnquist?"


--Joey

Beer of the week June 28th 2006

Blue Moon Belgian White Ale

Contrary to what the name would have you believe, it is not a Belgian Ale. It is brewed domestically by Coors. What is even more amazing is that Coors has produced a drinkable, if unremarkable, beer. The style of Witbiers is characterized by lemon and other citrus flavors (which is why you will sometimes be given the beer with a piece of fruit floating in it) and are most closely related to German Hefeweizens though, unlike hefes, Witbiers are usually filtered. They are also brewed with malted wheat in addition-to/lieu-of barley which makes it "lighter" and as such it is a popular beer for warm weather. Blue Moon is also widely available which makes it an acceptable find in places that consider beer to be an afterthought. Recommended, if there is nothing better.

Project: Power Monitoring System update

Getting my multimeter was a little bit of a challenge. I was eager to break it out (ironically, the outlet that was giving us the problem tripped that day it "arrived") and found a microphone.

They overnighted me the right product after some prodding. I was checking out the protocol information which all looked pretty standard. I am using Perl under Linux to pull in the information, but have only gotten results twice. So I tried Minicom just to see what it was spitting out. Again no luck. HyperTerminal? Got information but it looks like this

=E[c~‰Ÿ °ÀÐä

That isn't very readable, but it is very repeatable. Meaning that if this was 100 volts for example, 101 would be very similar. There is not a discernable pattern between each increment. Meaning the difference in ASCII value between increments changed between .9 and .8, .8 and .7 etc.

So, if I can at least get it into a file, I can create a lookup table and a check the left most digit(s). Any power reading that is not at least 100 volts is a problem though 120.0 is rare (usually we get +/- 5V).

--Joey

Photo of the week (June 23rd 2006)

Photo of the week (June 23rd 2006)


This photo was from opening night of Revenge of the Sith a little over a year ago. This is not a "good" photo, but I thought it was cool to see a family (mother and father were probably 10 in 1977) geeking out together. For those interested, Starwars is coming to the small screen in 2008.

--Joey

Beer of the week (June 21st 2006)

Continuing the summer theme, I had the Sam Adams Spring Ale. If you like the Boston Lager, and more specifically the Boston Ale, then you will like its lighter more lemonish flavor. Well worth a drink, and what is even better, many bars/restaurants have gone with The Boston Beer Company to carry both normal Sammy and a seasonal (Oktoberfest, Winter Lager, White Ale, Summer Ale).

--Joey

Project: Power Monitoring System

I decided to start a project that I have been thinking about for a while now. When our family added on to our house we put the addition on its own breaker. An odd quirk was that where the TV is currently was originally on the porch, and that porch breaker controls an outlet in the garage...which is hosting a fridge. Therefore, with our TV, DVR and the like we are always approaching the breaker's capacity, and about once a month we have to reset a tripped outlet. Needless to say this is not too good for food inside, but because our TV is flipped on so much, we know within 6 hours of when it happens.

But what happens, if we don't happen to watch TV, or we are away from home? It would be nice to be alerted. To solve the problem I need the following items:

1.) A multimeter with an RS232 communications port
2.) A UPSed server with an internet connection

For ease of putting it together I will use a lightweight linux distribution and my old p2-350 which is collecting dust.

I should receive the multimeter which I bought online ($50) shortly. This is good practice for tinkering and may have other applications. I'll try to keep weekly updates going with my progress on the project.

--Joey

Photo of the week (June 16th)

Photo of the week June 16th

This is a first. This photo was actually taken after the 16th (it wasn't posted until the 18th) and it is of the Sheikra roller coaster at Busch Gardens, Tampa. I met Angela and Mary (to my left and right, respectively) in Marbella so we had a little reunion along with Em. It was a good time, and it showed me how much Busch Gardens has changed since my last visit. The ride rocked (the drop is 200ft and reasonably steep) and it sets a new standard for smooth.





--Joey

Beer of the week (June 14th)

Beer of the week

Sierra Nevada Summerfest is a great pale lager. I dig it, you will too.

--Joey

Philly has lost it!

I am not sure if you have heard, but the city of Philadelphia is now imposing sanctions against Geno's Steaks for having the absolute unheard of cojones to request that their customers speak the official language of this country.

The city alleges that this is discriminatory and that by having the sign it discourages people from being served (Joey Vento, the owner, has repeatedly said, no one has been turned away). The only problem is, as Joey Vento pointed out in an interview with Soledad Obrien, if you can read the sign, how come you can't say "1 cheesesteak please"

People that are offended by this sign already speak some English, and simply requesting them to do so at your own restaurant does not seem unreasonable. Plus the sign has been up for months and is only now becoming an issue.

You may remember the plumbers union used their influence in local government to crush waterless urinals.

I say, go get em Joey, that is your right as an American...an American who speaks English...sort of. Oh and the ACLU shows its true colors when it decides to issue a wishywashy affirmation of his rights. You can bet if a restaurant owned by Muslims asked patrons to bow west towards mecca (which is the long way around) and the government said no, they would be marching in the streets.

--Joey

Photo of the week (June 9th)

Photo of the week June 9th

This is a nightime (duh) shot of the Plaza de Espana in Salamanca, Spain. At the time I was "living" in the apartment building across the street. I spent two weeks in Salamanca. One was in a house with a crazy woman the other was in a student accomodation. I killed two roaches there. Yum! Yechk... :-P


--Joey

Beer of the week (June 7th)

With Summer in full swing, I thought out would do a Summer theme for the next few weeks or so. Today I ran by Total Wine and Spirits (great beer selection) and ended up with a mixed sixer of:

Bay Harbor Blueberry Ale
Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Redhook Summerye
Sam Adams Summer Ale
Flying Dog Gold Scratch

...and just to be different: Dogfishhead Raison D'etre

By the time this set is gone, the first of the Oktoberfests will be arriving so that will probably be the next "set"

The Bay Harbor Blueberry Ale is a well made fruit beer from Maine. Two problems usually occur when mimicking the Belgian style. 1.) Overpowering fruit flavor (the ol' cherry syrup in beer syndrome) or 2.) It is so similar to a standard lager you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. Bay Harbor does it right! Highly drinkable, and highly flavorful. It is much more refreshing than its dubbel-esque appearance would have you believe. If someone gave this to me without telling me what it was, I am not sure I could tell what fruit it was. When you know it is Blueberry it is like reading lyrics to a song and it flows nicely. This is the first time I have tried this brewer so I am looking forward to sampling more and you should be too.

--Joey

European geography challenge

Dad and I were talking the other day about how many places I had hit on my last leg. He mentioned, there were hardly any cities that a person could mention from a trip they took (vacation, not business) that I have not visited. We tried to name 10 that would be reasonable (yes, Berlin, no Trondheim). Dad joked that a lot of people would struggle to get 10. I dismissed it and said maybe at 20 you would have a hard time but not 10 (even if the last few came slowly).

Time to put theory into practice. He asks people in his office to play along. Now granted, there is a certain surprise element to the question but even granting someone that, 10 should be a slam dunk. Wrongo.

His experience was definitely mixed, with a few that could name one or less.

That is horrifying.

So if you are game, ask this around people you know and report back with the results.

--Joey

JoeyIsRightHere blog update

My regular posting has been delayed by attending orientation for my new job. So I am cheating by changing the last two posts options to reflect the "correct date".

I am also creating a index post (I'll move it to become my "first") which I will link on the right so it become easy to search for previous entries by title and category.

--Joey

Photo of the week (June 2nd)

Photo of the week for June 2nd


This is the entrance to a guard tower in Rothenberg ODT, Germany. If you are in Germany (Frankurt area) it is definitely worth a visit. The entire town is frozen in the Middle Ages but was "recently" given a fresh coat of paint so it looks a little "Disneyfied".

--Joey