The Geek's Classroom

Inching toward Netflix

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:10:00 +0000

Well, Blockbuster and I are no longer getting along.

The first irritation was more my fault and so I was a little more accepting - I let a gift card sit too long and they decided to wipe it clean. It's their policy - a well stated policy - but a policy that states that money is more important than the client relationship and trust. I through away my membership card on that one - so I'm already pretty much done. I figured that this was a personal decision - it was mostly my fault and so no sense to blog it....

However, this week, I was receiving 60 to 100 spams a minute for several hours from an email address that I only ever gave to Blockbuster. (Sometimes it's nice to have your own email server.) I know that Blockbuster is struggling to stay alive, but to sell email addresses is a very poor business decision.

I'm really liking the Netflix/XBox partnership that has begun this month. The only struggle is value - obviously we don't rent that many movies....

Things that make you go hmmmm....

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:44:00 +0000

Last week, I was thinking through the upcoming election and realized there is a slogan that we can ALL agree on:

Dems in '08 - The Great Obama Nation!

If somebody finds or wants to design a shirt for the convention, I would be happy to buy one. (Please note: I can't buy one from everybody, but I would like to have one.)

Of course any time to come up with something cute and quippy, you can search the internet and realize that it is not a unique idea, but oh well....

I'm now "ranked"

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:13:00 +0000

On June 22nd (my anniversary by the way), my sweet lady went with me to a "Geocaching Event". Not the most exciting time, but they are starting to grow on me. The event happened to be my 200th cache. Which means that I am now officially "ranked" in the Geocaching world. I am currently 498th in the state, 22,888th in the nation, and 37,971st in the world.

Let's just say I have a long way to go. :) In case you want to get me a gift, here's a suggestion - unfortunately, they're not for sale.

An update

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:21:00 +0000

So, I know it's not earth shattering, but in case you've been wondering what I've been up to....

I was really close to getting a perfect 5280, but I accidentally got 2 achievements at the same time and overshot. Luckily Viva Pinata: Party Animals, a perfect 6000 wasn't too far away. (And thanks to silly games like Yaris, 5 point achievements still exist in the world.)

Well, I think I knew that before the test...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:54:00 +0000

Which Lost Character Are You?

More on Lost. Created by BuddyTV

I got a rock

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:41:00 +0000

So, today I turned 37, and I got a rock...

Well, it's what I asked for and it's a geocaching rock...

Thanks fam for a great day!

Today in History

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:40:00 +0000

1966 John Lennon says "We (Beatles) are more popular than Jesus"

Ironically nobody has to ask, "Jesus who?"

1950: Walt Disney's feature-length animated motion picture Cinderella is released.

She doesn't look a day over 20.

"To observe and collect"

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:36:00 +0000

I'm not normally one to bash police officers just for the sake of doing so. Being in public service myself, I know that it is impossible to do everything that the public eye thinks that we should. However, I have had two frustrating experiences in the last week that I think are noteworthy - teachable moments for the kids, that didn't quite work the direction that I would have hoped.

First of all, I am that guy that drives the speed limit. I don't do it in the fast lane because before I was convicted of wanting to obey this law, I remembered how annoying it was when I was in a hurry and some dimwitted knucklehead (that would be me - now) was driving the speed limit in the fast lane. (Please note: I have posted on speed limits before.)

So anyway, the other day when I was driving 8-over with the kids in the back (along a stretch that I don't normally drive - and, as the officer even admitted, down a hill), I had hoped to be let off with just a warning. I was staying with the pace of traffic and not really endangering anybody. So, instead of being able to teach my children about how the athorities are out to catch the bad guys who are out there trying to hurt us, I got to teach them about taking consequences for wrongful acts. (Which kinda makes it so that I can't plea bargin the ticket with a clear conscience.)

I decided to take that one in stride and not whine about it. However, last night I had another potential run-in, again with the hopes of teaching my children that authority is there to help our communities be better for all of us.

Last night I was parked by the side of the road with my family - geocaching if you must know - and ended up with a dead battery. (I had shut the car off while I went on my search and left the radio, lights and heater on for my family who stayed in the car.) So anyway, I decided to open my hood and get out jumper cables so that I nice passer-by might quickly assess the scenario and decide that it would not be a major inconvenience to stop and help. The first car to come by after the stage was set, was a police car. I made eye contact with both the driver and the passenger (in the front seat, not the back) and he drove right on by. Luckily, the truck that followed behind and saw that I was just dis'd by a police officer decided to stop and help.

So, hopefully soon, I will have a run-in with another public servant who can help my children see that they are the good guys. I just hope that it is not due to a crime with a direct, negative effect on me.

Some more movie reviews...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Over the break, I did get an opportunity to see several movies. I have a few comments to make about some of them.

National Treasure 2: I really liked it. I did like Riley Poole's role in the first one a lot better. Probably because I connected with his character a little more. Possibly because he gave in a bought a Mac.... My one major comment: If you buy the 32-ounce Coke, visit the restroom around the time that you go west of the Mississippi. There's a LOT of water in the last hour of this movie....

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Enjoyable. Although it was done really well, I love these stories - I know it's cliche, but the books are better. I do like their casting for Trillian. To quote the Commentary on the DVD: "Those eyes! C'mon they were made for each other...." And a personal quote that I use a lot that I think I must have picked up from this movie the first time that I saw it: "It's the best I could do at short notice."

Life Stinks: Really, really, really good. This might be in my favorite movies of all time. (Along with The Princess Bride, L.A. Story, Better Off Dead, and Scrooged - in case you cared.) I saw this movie in the theater back in '91 - it was as good as I remembered. I had to introduce the wife to this one - she didn't believe me that a Mel Brooks movie entitled Life Stinks would be worth seeing at all. I tried to tell her that it would be a good one for new years, but she didn't go for it, now she wishes she had. (Hitchhiker's won that vote...) It's not at all a traditional Mel Brooks movie - that's why it's not in any collections - it's also why it is so hard to find - nobody saw the movie the first time and nobody knows that they want to see it now. I wanted to put in my favorite quotes, but I couldn't do it without ruining the movie. It's worth seeing and, naturally, it really resonates if you are already a pessimist.

Alan Menken Redeemed

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:49:00 +0000

I loved Alan Menken's work in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. In subsequent movies where he worked with Tim Rice, it became more obvious to me that I liked Howard Ashman more than I actually liked Alan Menken.

This was confirmed to me when I saw the theatrical version of Beauty and the Beast in which Alan made a few musical changes. Since I know the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack so well, the changes were painfully obvious to me. The first act I actually liked better than the movie and at the intermission, I even made a few comments to people that I think that Menken has possibly redeemed himself. The second act however confirmed to me that I really don't like Menken's musical style.

Tonight I went to Enchanted. This soundtrack has totally redeemed Alan Menken in my mind. It was so good that I did not even consider that he could have been involved until his name showed up in the end credits.

The best song on the soundtrack, That's How You Know, almost ranked him up there with with Hans Zimmer - well almost. Unfortunately, Alan has Home Alone 2 smeared across his resume - and that's going to take a lot of really good writing to cover up.

Common sense?

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:12:00 +0000

ICYC - bubble gum and beards don't mix. Funny what you don't think of after 15 to 20 years of not chewing gum....

Scams and Viruses

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:32:00 +0000

I received the following scam alert yesterday and knew that I needed to make sure that everyone had heard it! (As a bonus, I also attached a virus alert that you need to pay attention to in case you haven't heard about it yet!)

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally... but this one is real, and it's important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

If you receive an e-mail with a subject of Badtimes, delete it immediately WITHOUT READING IT. This is the most DANGEROUS e-mail virus ever.

It will rewrite your hard drive and scramble any disks that are even close to your computer. It will recalibrate your freezer's coolness setting so all your ice cream melts. It will demagnetize the strips on all your credit cards, screw up the tracking on your VCR, and use subspace field harmonics to render any CDs you try to play unreadable.

It will give your ex-boy/girlfriend/ex-husband/wife your new phone number. It will mix antifreeze into your fishtank. It will drink all your beer and leave its socks out on the coffee table when company comes over. It will put a kitten in the back pocket of your good suit and hide your car keys when you are late for work.

Badtimes will make you fall in love with a penguin. It will give you nightmares about circus midgets. It will pour sugar in your gas tank and shave off both your eyebrows while dating your current boy/girlfriend behind your back and billing the dinner and hotel room to your Visa card.
It moves your car randomly around parking lots so you can't find it. It will tease your dog. It will leave strange messages on your boss's voicemail in your voice. It is insidious and subtle. It is dangerous and terrifying to behold. It is also a rather interesting shade of mauve.

Badtimes will give you Dutch Elm disease. It will leave the toilet seat up. It will make a batch of methamphetamine in your bathtub and leave bacon cooking on the stove while it goes out to chase high school kids with your snowblower.

These are just a few of the signs. Be very, very afraid!

Consider yourself warned. And be careful out there!

Some of you may appreciate this....

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:27:00 +0000

I was sent to watch this in August and I'm still laughing at it, so I guess that I need to post it.

I realize that it makes very little sense to the non-classical-musically minded among us, but to somebody who once played Pachelbel's canon on tuba (the tuba part for the band is the same as the cello part for orchestra), I can very much appreciate this.

I love going to weddings and hearing the brides who are so excited about how they chose Pachelbel's Canon in D instead of something more traditional. I think I've heard Pachelbel at every wedding I've been to but my own.... (At least at the reception...)

This morning in worship, we sang Brad Kilman's "We are Hungry". I started laughing so hard, I almost had to leave the room.

Adding Insult to Injury

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:47:00 +0000

Over the weekend, my sweet bride shared with several people that I was injured and made up this really neat story of how I fell into a ravine. So, now as people are asking me about my huge injury, I get to explain that the "ravine" was about an inch, maybe two, high. Basically, I tripped and it laid me up for 2 days.

From bad to worse...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:44:00 +0000

So yesterday I sustained what is most likely my first ever sports injury. Since geocaching is a non-contact sport, I figured the probability was lower, but obviously not at zero.

So, I have a sprained ankle, and I’m trying to determine if there is a fracture.

In the process of trying to lessen the swelling, I got to prove my allergy to Advil.

And so I also can’t see very well since my eyes are swollen shut.

Halo Flu - a month late...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:25:00 +0000

So, for the last month or so, I've been working my way through Halo's 1 and 2 in preparation for the release of Halo 3. One of the things I like about the Halo series is that it's not a "kill everything that moves" game - there's actually a plot. I wanted to catch up on the story line before I got moving. I remembered most of the plot of 1, but since I had a one-year-old around the house when Halo 2 came out I wasn't able to play it at full volume and missed some of the story. I still have small kids in the house, but I figured out a way to hook headphones up to my 360. When it came to replaying the games, I knew that I wasn't in a hurry to finish because I wasn't going to be able to get Halo 3 until Christmas anyway.

Well, Wednesday of last week, I received a copy of Halo 3 mailed to me in an unmarked envelope. A gift I do appreciate (in case the random gifter reads my blog - you can consider this post to also be my thank you note), but it gave me a bit more incentive to finish Halo 2.

Well, I finished Halo 2 last night. Then I got "sick". My wife said that the smells eminating from the bathroom and passing out around midnight were convincing enough to take a day off from work.

So, I got to play a while today. My favorite part so far is a little Easter Egg that I found wandering down a random hallway. Two characters with voices STRIKINGLY similar to Simmons and Caboose on Red vs Blue arguing over knowing the password necessary to open a door. I got myself clobbered just so that I could share the moment with Melissa.

So, a geek walks into an REI...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:26:00 +0000

Ya know... Certain people just don't "fit" certain stores. A guy just can't walk into a Victoria's Secret. And a chubby, white-n-nerdy just can't walk into an REI. You could just see everybody looking at me placing their bets - is he going to get a gift card or is he going for the GPS area?

Anyway, I'm now the proud owner of an eTrex Legend.

Merry Christmas to me! And thanks dad....

Well, they found me....

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:56:00 +0000

In the last 24 hours, I have received 3435 spam emails. I think I might need to make some changes. Only about 20 weren't filtered out. I must say that I do like Outlook 2007.

Not sure what to think yet...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:10:00 +0000

Found 3 today, but did not get to mark one, as the person enabling my new potential addiction is a premium member and so I don't have access to add one to my official count.

So, I read somewhere...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:42:00 +0000

So I've been reading some books recently (Mind Hacks and Mind Wide Open since it is necessary due to the nature of this post) about the nature of the mind. One of the biggest things that I have learned about is the problem of source confusion and false memories. Boiling it down, here's the real problem: I use the phrase "I read somewhere" more often than I should, and I trust people who use the phrase "I read somewhere" much more than I should.

So why is this a problem? When learning new information, your mind makes connections with previous information. If you read something or hear something from a unreliable source (or even better, you hear half of something while you are flipping channels), and then something else from some source (either reliable or unreliable), your brain begins to synthesize this ideas into new thoughts. Well, here's the core of the problem: That new thought might be total garbage because a garbage source was used in its development.

What I have learned through reading the books mentioned above, as it has processed and connected with a few other experiences recently, is that I have lots of garbage in my mind that is scaffolding for lots of other garbage - and I have no idea what the original sources are for quite a bit of this information. ("Somewhere" and second-hand "somewhere".)

So, how much of whever is in my mind reliable? Do I need to start completely over? Obviously, I can't just throw away 35 years of knowledge and memories. I also have a large amount of practical knowledge that I didn't learn from books or from classroom settings that I feel that I can rely on because I learned by doing and that "doing" works (such as computer programming and breathing).

I think that several people in the world also need some mental housekeeping. How many of our convictions are based on things that we were taught and that we have never actually convinced ourselves of?

My Centennial

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 03:10:00 +0000

So, this marks 100 posts. It's interesting because today I went through my blog and added Labels to everything now that this is a feature of Blogger2, which gave me an opportunity to read all 99 other posts. (It also gave me an opportunity to completely hose my RSS feed - sorry about that.)

As I read, I realized that my blog has grown up quite a bit in the last two years. At first my posts were random thoughts, but I think that I have finally selected a few themes to stick with - for now. Most of those posts at the beginning could only be Labeled as Funny, since they had little to do with my life, getting to know me, or really sharing any of the things that I think about on a regular basis.

I also find it sadly amusing that my readership has dwindled down to next to nothing - I think there are still maybe five people who might read my blog regularly. But that's ok - I'm not trying to change the world, I'm just trying to let people get to know me a little and give a few people a little something to ponder. A chance to laugh a little at what parenthood and tech support throw my way.

I recently spent a week at a Technology in Education conference which has given me a few ideas as to what directions my blog should go from here.

So for now, thanks to those who are still here, and hopefully I will his the 200th post in shorter than the 2 years it took to get here.

Tech Support

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:55:00 +0000

Yesterday, I got to call tech support while working on my parents computer. This ranks up there with my least favorite activities in the world. After spending 2 hours troubleshooting the issue I determined that it must be a server issue. Well, when you call tech support, they take you through everything that you've already been doing for the last two hours. And as we all know, most tech support has recently been outsourced to India, so not only do you get to be redundant, you get to struggle with the English language at the same time (apparently coin-furg-ation is the Indian pronunciation for configuration). And since it's my parents' computer, all the software is at least 5 years out of date.

The first person that I talked to had a great idea of deleting the coin-furg-ation file and he didn't have enough sense to back the file up first, but since he was getting paid for his advice, I figured that he was confidant in what he was doing. (I generally don't spend the extra time to back up files if I am confidant in what I am doing.) Well after deleting the coin-furg-ation file, we got an error that the configuration file could not be found - was I supposed to be surprised. So, he decided at this time to escalate my issue to the next tier.

The guy at the next tier spoke significantly better English and confirmed that there was a change in the server configuration. He gave me the settings that I needed to change but wanted to send me in a different direction for application support on the configuration file. Instead of spending another 20 minutes on hold, I figured that I could reinstall the software instead (since I'm sure that's the conclusion that application support would come to anyway).

Well, I reinstalled (and actually upgraded since we couldn't find the original installation disks) and I typed in the settings that I was given at the second tier of support - and of course it still didn't work. Doing all of my background server pinging and route tracing, it still seemed as though the server wasn't connecting.

When I called a second time, the guy started me through all of the same things that I had done before. Then it came to my mind that the newest version of the software that I had just upgraded had a better way of connecting to the server - I mentioned this to the tech support guy and as he rambled on for a few minutes about how much better the new connection is, I changed the configuration to include the new connection and confirmed that it worked correctly. Finally, the tech support guy started with "so let's open up the coin-furg-ation set up [yes the second call started on teir 1 again] - go to Start and Control Panel". I told him that I already had it confugured and tested, I thanked him for his time and ended the call.

So, my question: Is there a way to bypass tier one? Can there be a code phrase known by all tech support that says "let's act like we've done everything in your little booklet already, can you just pass me to tier 2, where probability is higher that I will talk to somebody who speaks English with a more American accent, and so I don't waste your time and you don't waste mine?"

The guy who had me delete my configuration file just sent me over the top. Especially when it still seems that their inital connection port is dead on their server. I guess that it forces the upgrade process, but I think that it seems really rude.

Well, it's free... like a puppy....

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:40:00 +0000

People who like Linux obviously don't value their time. I have spent the last 2 months installing Linux on my server. (I obviously haven't spent 8 solid weeks, but I started the process 2 months ago. I have spent about 40 hours in the last week.)

I have used Linux before, but the server was about 15 years old. (It was given to me by somebody who upgraded their home computer and knew I was needing a server. So, it was obsolete to him, and that was 9 years ago.) And the version of Linux that was on it didn't get updated very often - aka ever. I will appreciate the comfort of knowing the there is an update engine now.

On the positive side, as I sort of stated before, Linux will run on very old equipment very well. And from past experience, it is very stable. I also have a Windows server and other than not getting along with my KVM switch, it has been very reliable, too. But the computer that is now running Linux was dying under XP, I didn't want to even consider Vista on it. I can see how if I was getting Linux for a desktop or laptop where I might not care so much about detail-tweaking Linux might be worth it.

On the negative side, since it is Open Source, the flaws are very exposed, which creates a very uncomfortable feeling. Several years ago, I actually received calls from a university because somebody had hacked my system, set up their own user account and was actively using that account to hack into the university's servers. Ever since then, I have never really favored the security model that Linux provides. Also, finding help with issues is very difficult for several reasons. First of all, the people like me who don't quite trust the reliability of Linux aren't willing to give too much information about their systems' setups for exposure reasons - if I talk about servicexyz on my system and the trouble I had with setting up the tuv-port, it would show that I might not have considered the issues with qrs-port that all the hackers are exploiting. Secondly, the assistance that I was able to find talked about servicexyz v4, and I really have no idea what version was included with my version of Linux. Finally, there are lots of wikis and forums on Linux, but I don't know if the post that I am reading was written by Linus Torvalds himself or somebody just as incompetent as myself.

I do feel that my server is up and running now, so our rss feeds and email should be much more stable. For now, I am going to do my victory lap as I sing "I am the champion... of my world!"

Perspective...

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Tue, 29 May 2007 03:45:00 +0000

Last night, my daughter refused to eat a chocolate covered strawberry that was offered to her. "Dad," she whispered to me, "I don't want to eat a dirty strawberry."

When she was offered an ice cream bar last night, it seemed that "dirty" ice cream is acceptable.

So long and thanks for all the fish....

noreply@blogger.com (GeekTeach) — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:48:00 +0000

*sniff*