the green room

By Proclamation

2009-11-25T08:58:00.003-05:00

City of New York, October 3, 1789.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go: Washington

Link to Library of Congress

Bike + iPhone = Awesome

2009-11-12T18:14:00.005-05:00

I started riding a road bike about a year an half ago. When I started riding, i found a great app called MapMyRide. It will trace your route via GPS for upload to a website that can track your training and other ride stats. I would usually turn on my music, activated the GPS app, place my iPhone in my Camelbak and use my Apple issued wired headset.

I recently got a stereo bluetooth headset. It is great! No more wires to worry about snagging during the ride. However, having GPS and Bluetooth A2DP on at the same time would kill my battery. If I didnt' have 100% battery before the ride, I would probably have a dead battery before the end of the ride.

So I decided to make my own, bike-mounted battery pack for my iPhone 3GS.
the iPhone 3GS has a 1600mAH battery. I decided the easiest way to build a battery pack was to use a 7.2V, 3300mAh RC car battery I had lying around. This would give me almost 2 full charges if needed, and can be recharged easily. I used a spare connector and wired the battery to 12V car power outlet. I used a Griffin PowerJolt adapter which is basically a 5V regulator on a USB port. I crammed all this into an earth friendly, biodegradable water bottle. :)

I got a mount for my iPhone 3GS from Bicio. I had been following this company since they announced the product back in the spring. They claim a secure iPhone bike mount - design by cyclists, for cyclists... and I have to say, this is the best product. It fits very securely on my upper tube. The holster for the iPhone is very nice... I am not at all worried about my phone being damaged.

Here are some pictures of the system mounted on my bike.

Mid-Season Comments from the Auburner

2009-10-23T11:05:00.002-04:00

Mark's mid-season analysis is a modern day classic.

Halloween Costume

2009-10-21T08:35:00.000-04:00

Trooper's Guide

2009-09-30T09:15:00.004-04:00

A nice little Auburn Football - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy parody from theAuburner.com

STS-128

2009-09-01T22:41:00.003-04:00

So my dad got tickets from his congressman to view the launch of Shuttle Discovery at the Banana Creek viewing location (3.3 miles from the launch pad).

The launch was originally scheduled for Tuesday at 1:36am, but was scrubbed at T -9 minutes due to weather. Finally on Friday night at 11:59:37pm Discovery lit up the sky.

I've experienced night launches before, but being that close is amazing! Blinding light and a massive wall of sound... you should try to make one of the remaining 7 shuttle launches in the next year... you won't be disappointed.

I've uploaded some pictures to Picasa.

Shuttle Discovery Launch of STS-128

Bluetooth in Stereo

2009-08-20T10:31:00.002-04:00

I have always wanted a stereo bluetooth headset for listening to music with my iPhone.
Until recently, Apple didn't think highly enough of bluetooth to enable such things... but now with iPhone OS 3.0 I am able to use it.

So I got the Motorola S9 headset off Amazon recently. Nothing super nice, but something I could use at work and while riding my bike.
So far so good. The battery life is alright, and I haven't experienced many problems, other than the music cutting out every so often when the battery is low.

But I noticed something interesting the other day... The stated range for Bluetooth is 30 ft. I wouldn't trust this headset with in a non-line of sight scenario for more than 10 ft, but I was surprise recently. Really surprised. I've been working in an anechoic chamber for a few weeks now. An anechoic chamber is a metal room with RF absorber all over the inside to dampen RF signals for controled measurements and tests. I had left my phone on the desk in the control room when I walked into the chamber the other day... all the way into the chamber. The other side in fact. I wasn't line of sight with the phone anymore. With the chamber door open, I was able to walk way furhter than I thought I should. So maybe this headset's range isn't so bad after all.

Of course, it did stop working when I shut the chamber door:)

Conference

2009-06-09T09:04:00.002-04:00

The explanation we've all been looking for.

2009-05-28T08:35:00.002-04:00

New Pictures

2009-04-29T08:25:00.005-04:00

Trip to Amelia Island for Easter/Kristen's Birthday, Hanna and Andrew's Wedding, Pike Camping trip to Tallulah Falls, GA.

Amelia Island 2009

Hanna and Andrew's Wedding

Camping with the Pikes 2009

grad school memories

2009-04-29T08:21:00.002-04:00

Science Again!

2009-04-07T08:14:00.006-04:00

Doodling

2009-03-12T08:28:00.002-04:00

Ha! Take that 9th grade Public Speaking teacher!
According to a study, doodling actually helps the brain to concentrate during boring times.

3 weeks into the semester I was reprimanded in front of the class for several minutes simply for doodling while I was taking notes. I was forbidden from doodling in that class again. So I closed my notebook and hardly took another note for the rest of the semester. I probably would have learned more if I had been able to doodle :)

Shouldn't there be more people on this?

2009-03-11T08:32:00.006-04:00

Florida Today's live feed, The Flame Trench, just updated the progress of Shuttle Discovery being prepped for a night launch tonight. They just began fueling the tanks, and The Flame Trench's headline reads "KSC Crews Ready Discovery for Fueling" followed by a picture of a nerd at a cluttered desk with two laptops... surely there is more than one person fueling the shuttle!

Mc-9-1-1

2009-03-03T15:55:00.002-05:00

If this article weren't from Florida Today, and the story wasn't out of Fort Pierce, I'd think it was an article from The Onion

FORT PIERCE — Told McDonald’s was out of Chicken McNuggets after paying for a 10-piece, a local woman called 9-1-1.
Three times.
"This is an emergency, If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one,” Latreasa L. Goodman later told police. “This is an emergency."
The McNugget meltdown happened last week at a McDonald’s in the 600 block of North U.S. 1 and ended with Goodman, 27, getting a notice to appear on a misuse of 911 charge, according to a recently released police report.
Goodman told investigators she tried to get a refund for the 10-piece McNuggets, but the cashier told her all sales are final.
"I called 9-1-1 because I couldn't get a refund, and I wanted my McNuggets," Goodman told police.
The cashier told police she offered Goodman, of the 2400 block of South 25th Street, a larger portion of food for the same price to make up for it, but said Goodman got “irate,” the report states.
Goodman reportedly yelled, "I don't want a McDouble and small fry," the cashier told investigators.
Dispatchers for 9-1-1 told police Goodman called the emergency number three times and on each occasion was told an officer was en route.
“Goodman maintained the attitude ‘this is an emergency, my McNuggets are an emergency,’” the report states.
McNuggets, introduced to the McDonald’s national menu in 1983, are sold in more than 100 countries and, unlike the McDouble, are often dunked in barbecue or hot mustard sauce.

50 Year Old Blue Angel Artifacts Found

2009-03-03T15:16:00.002-05:00

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,504072,00.html

Can you help me find Moxi?

2009-02-25T16:54:00.004-05:00

Back when I lived in Auburn and Charter Communications was my cable provider, I had a DVR that was pretty much the greatest DVR ever. The Moxi Broadband Media Center (BMC9012). The box was made by Motorola and had the greatest user interface and recording features. Now I live in Central Florida and Bright House Networks is my cable provider. I now have a Scientific Atlanta box under my TV and it has what is universally regarded as terrible software.

So here is what I think I'd like to do:

1) After talking with Bright House customer service and an independent contractor for BHN, I found out that I can get a 3rd party DVR and plug it in to BHN and tell them the serial number/address of the box, they would provision it (so they claim). So I'm looking for a Moxi Box, and monitoring ebay (which has a tone of Moxi remotes right now).

2) Charter Communications is going to the deploying Digeo's new version of the Moxi Cable Box soon, and have already started in some areas... They've got to do something with those old Moxi boxes, right? If you live in an area, and have Charter as your cable provider, and will be getting a new DVR soon, let me know what they are doing with the old ones :)

Also, I think I had a lot of caffeine today.

PACE Awards

2009-02-23T21:44:00.005-05:00

We made a quick trip up to Pensacola last Tuesday for the 49th Annual PACE Awards. The Pensacola Chamber of Commerce selected my dad to receive this year's Professional Leader of the Year award. It was a great event acknowledging local leaders who have impacted Pensacola in their field. I've uploaded some pictures as well as a link to a press release from Saltmarsh with the pretty funny video that was played before my dad received his award.

Saltmarsh Press Release

PACE Awards 2009

Sesqui-Quadricentennial?

2009-02-16T06:45:00.003-05:00

According to Wikipedia, there isn't a Latin term that corresponds to a 450th anniversary.
But that is what Pensacola is celebrating this year.

In August 1559 Spanish Conquistador Don Tristan de Luna de Arellano founded a colony in the Pensacola Bay area. In true Florida style it the original colony was wiped out by a hurricane and abandoned by 1561. But that won't stop the City of Five Flags from celebrating! Complete with a visit from the King and Queen of Spain and the Spanish Ambasador to the US.

One less Iridium flair...

2009-02-12T07:54:00.002-05:00

(CNN) -- Two satellites, one Russian and one American, have collided some 800 kilometers (500 miles) above Siberia, Russian news agencies reported Thursday, citing a NASA spokesman.

Debris from the collision poses no threat to the International Space Station.

The debris from the Tuesday collision poses no threat to the International Space Station, RIA-Novosti reported, citing a spokesman for the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos.

The collision of the two communications satellites is believed to be the first of its kind, NASA was quoted as saying in Russian media.

Space collisions are rare and normally involve parts of spent rockets or mini-satellites, RIA-Novosti said.

The Russian satellite was launched in 1993 and is considered inoperative, news agency Itar-Tass and the Russia Today TV station reported.

The U.S. satellite is part of the Iridium global mobile communications system and is owned by a consortium headed by Motorola, Russian media reported. It was launched in 1997.

NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries was quoted as telling journalists that the crash produced a pair of massive debris clouds.

"It will be weeks at least before the true magnitude of these clouds are known," RIA-Novosti quoted Humphries as saying, adding analysts expect the wreckage from the collision to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere

Shuffle

2009-01-29T10:54:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been addicted to the two most recent albums by Needtobreathe (The Heat) and Third Day (Revelation). They are both awesome albums.

But today I decided to shuffle through ALL the songs on my iPhone. It is funny to go from Johnny Cash, to Hayden, to Calibretto13, to matchbox20, and Weezer.

Who runs things while Steve is gone??

2009-01-15T15:36:00.002-05:00

Who is going to run the most awesome technology company while the CEO is out on medial leave??

An Auburn engineering grad, that's who.

And as The Auburner points out... he is taking the place of a college drop-out, so maybe it isn't that hard :)

War Eagle!

God's Timing

2009-01-07T11:04:00.004-05:00

My company sent me to a conference in November and didn't spend that much on meals while I was there. So I was excited about the Per Diem I would be getting back after turning in my expense report. I should have gotten that money last month, but there were problems with the Oracle system that delayed the expense report. I finally got the payment this week and had toyed with the idea of getting a Blu-Ray player with that money. However, conveniently enough, the Per Diem reimbursement cleared our bank account the same day I had to have work done on Kristen's car. The Per Diem and the bill were about the same... nice.

Christmas Pictures!

2008-12-29T22:38:00.005-05:00

I uploaded some Christmas 2008 pictures to Picasa:
Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas morning, Friday at the Skeet Range.

Christmas 2008

COD5 killed my Xbox

2008-12-29T09:28:00.003-05:00

So I got COD5 for Christmas... and it killed my 360. The same thing happened to me after Gears of War came out... :(

Good thing this happened with 4 months left on the 3 year warranty :)