...Sometimes it rains

One degree of separation...

2009-02-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows someone who has been victimized by cancer. Every last one of us. On average, we have a 1:2.5 chance of getting cancer. That's 1.6 people out of every family of four. And yet - it really seems that no one wants to want to fix it.

"I don't know how to help." Go to www.cancer.org. It takes about 5 minutes to help.

"I'm too busy." It takes about 5 minutes to help. Go to www.cancer.org.

"There's nothing one person can do." Yes, you can. I've seen the difference that one person can make first-hand.

"I just don't want to think about cancer." You know? I don't know how to fix this. I truly don't understand this logic. It's killing our family, our friends, our loved ones, us. I can't believe this doesn't inspire every single one of us to fight. But it doesn't.

Ol' Blue...

2008-10-26T22:56:00.001-07:00

Did I ever tell you the story about Blue?

When I was in college all those years ago, I worked part-time in a computer store in downtown Rolla.

Blue was this guy who wandered in off the street one day. He walks in one Saturday morning and goes "I need a meeting." I had no idea what he meant, but the guy working with me knew that he meant an AA meeting, and just happened to know who to call.

Next he tells us how he hasn't eaten in a week, so we set him up with a ride to Waffle House (all you could eat at the time) and I took him in and paid for him. When I dropped him off, he says "Thank God you guys came along. I was afraid I was going to have to mug a senior citizen or something."

I never learned Blue's last name.

It's the small things in Life...

2008-09-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

I love the smell of the bread and coffee aisle.

I love the sound of the rain on the roof. I always sleep better during a thunderstorm.

I love writing about the stories of my life.

When it's cool out, I love bicycling during the day and driving with the windows down and the heater on at night.

I love canoeing and stopping on a sand bar for a picnic.

McDriving Adventures...

2008-09-07T01:06:00.000-07:00

In case I don't make it, I thought I should share something with you that's taken me over 20 years to perfect: Getting through the McDriveThru without hitting anything.

The first thing that happens to us all is that when we pull into the drive-thru lane, we expect people to look before leaping out into traffic at about the same time that we hit a kid who didn't. So watch for idiots when pulling into the drive-thru lane.

If you're lucky, you make it to the speaker to order something - otherwise an idiot with a clipboard is standing in the middle of the drive-thru in an effort to "speed up the line" It's not like the drive thru comes with instructions. Threats like "Have your money ready or else," and "No multiple orders," are abundant, but I suppose that we can't all be smart enough to speak directly into the clown's mouth.

Next: The speaker stage. I started out like everyone else - pull up to the speaker, wait an interminable time to order, order, repeat, get distracted, pull forward - and hit a curb. It's happened to all of us at one point or another. Those freaking curbs are just too close together to make it safely - until now. The secret is ordering from as far away as possible. The lane is really wide at the point where the speaker is located. It seems obvious to get as close as possible to the speaker as possible so they can hear you - but that's the trap. If you pull up close to the speaker in the left side of the lane, you have a much sharper corner to negotiate before you get to Window #1. On the other hand, if you set up on the right side of the lane when ordering, you have a much wider radius ahead. Pay attention to the right side wheels, and the left (inside) wheels take care of themselves. It's as simple as that.

Not hitting those freaking yellow poles filled with concrete is a bit more difficult and requires a bit more faith to execute. At some point during one of your visits to Window #1, you're going to drop money. It happens to all of us. Here's the secret to not rolling back down the hill and taking off a door on the yellow pole I'm talking about: Just leave it there. This is a situation not unlike riding on a tram or Mr Toads Wild Ride - remain seated until the ride comes to a full and complete stop. In this case, the ride ends when you get your food and throw any trash you have in the car out the window in the general proximity of the trash can at the drive-thru exit. If the person at the window asks you to get out and hand them the money, don't do it - it's a trap. Once again, you have no doubt pulled up really close to the window (so you don't drop your money), and it will be impossible to get out of the car. So you roll back a few feet and open the door, get out - and the car rolls back down the hill and rips the door off on that freaking yellow pole. Seriously - just sit there. Eventually they'll get the point that the line isn't going to move and they'll say something like "That's alright - I'll get it later." Bonus points are awarded for bravery - ask for your change for the money laying on the ground. If you don't get it, just sit there. They can't stand the line not moving, and they'll do anything they have to to get you out of the way and onto dealing with the next idiot.

And who hasn't hit one of those pesky rock-encrusted trash cans scattered around the parking lot at some point in our lives? I had the misfortune of being in the car (the 1978 Trans Am) with mom when she pulled a little bit too far into a parking space and over the sucker went. "Get out and pick it up." WTF? You hit it! "Just do it because you're the kid and I said so. " So we're apparently about to hit-and-run the trash can, and my job is to pick it up so it looks like nothing happened. Except they weigh on the order of 400lbs. Because they're all covered in rocks and concrete. Know why they're not all dented up like the plastic (or metal) cans you have at home? Because they are all covered in rocks and concrete and weigh like 400lbs, that's why. So I leapt back into the car (through a window, I think) screaming "Leave it! Just go!" and we sped off into the night, leaving the can for dead.

When exiting Window #2, remember the idiots are coming out both sides of the building, and someone calling the cops is only going to cause the double cheeseburger to be even colder than it already is.

Next you go for Mr Toads Wild Ride for real - the canal that serves for a drainage ditch will rip the spoiler off the front of your new Trans Am if you're not careful. This time it isn't someone else's baby you're destroying, it's your own - so be careful! Try to hit it at an angle regardless of the direction you're wanting to turn. Yes, this requires taking up both lanes, but you'll be glad you did. Next, for freaks sake, don't pull into the middle lane and then expect to merge. A) It's illegal. 2) Traffic is never so bad in Rolla that this is necessary, and C) I hate people who do this.

I hope these lessons help you avoid learning the hard way like I had to.
Bryan

Cool days and cooler nights...

2008-09-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

The hurricaine helped to make last night the first cool night of the fall, and that always sleep better. Today it stayed cool, and that was cool. But the best part is that driving at night is back.

What's cool about that, you ask? Try it the next time it's cool outside. Roll all the windows down, turn the heater on, crank the radio up and drive really fast. There's nothing better in the world...

There's nothing so beautiful...

2008-09-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Before she died, Debra told me that the best part of her days was sitting on the porch and watching the puppies play in the back yard or watch the rain. Yesterday the remnants of Hurricaine Gustav blew through Rolla I sat on the back porch and watched it rain, and I have to say - it was wonderful.

This evening I took a walk around Maramec Spring. The water was quite high and a few portions below the spring were flooded and the leaves were just starting to fall. I saw maybe 100 deer grazing the fields and I sat and watched and listened to the water flow for an hour. I took a hundred photos that no one including me will ever see.

I wish I lived somewhere that would let me have a dog...

The day was just packed...

2008-08-27T01:21:00.000-07:00

"They cooked us BBQ. I am pretty sure that is southern for 'We like you.' "

So last Friday was my birthday, and it was without a doubt the best birthday I've ever had. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the park!

The day started out with a birthday party at Imo's, complete with balloons and a Transformers theme (thank God I didn't have to wear a pirate hat and eye patch like last year!). The cake and cookies were made by Denise and Tara. Then it was off to the Laundromat to do the 11 or so loads of laundry that had accumulated at the bottom of my closet.

Then back home to make lemonade and pack the car and head to Lions Club Park. This was without a doubt the biggest and best picnic ever. Lots of new folks joined us for the first time, I even knew some of them! The attendance was over 30 at last count. Thanks to Malcolm we had an awesome and unexpected pork tenderloin and to Patti and Marcus for the baked beans, and to the Hartmans for the awesome homemade Nutty Chocolate Shake (my favorite!), and to Denise and Tara for the wonderful desserts. Thanks to everyone for the presents and well-wishes.

When the party started to wind down, some of the gang spelled out "Happy B-Day Bryan" (among other things) around the Lions lake using hundreds of giant glow sticks.

When the picnic came to an end, I found myself sitting at a table at Sonic with some good friends, sipping on a giant watermelon slush and wishing that the day didn't have to end...

All you got is your friends...

2008-08-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from a book by Walter Mosley called
Devil in a Blue Dress:

EASY
If you got a friend that does bad and you still keep
him as your friend, even though you know what he's
like... Do you think that's right?


ODELL
All you got is your friends, Easy.

Time Passes

EASY
I thought about what Odell had said about friends
and it made sense to me.  Odell goes to church
every Sunday, so he would know.  Later on, he
challenged me to a game of dominoes. And what'd
he do that for?  We got to talkin' 'bout Texas
and fooled around and drunk almost a quart of
whiskey... And I forgot about (my troubles) and
sat with my friend, on my porch at my house, and
we laughed a long time...

It seems like when it's time to make a major
decision in life, I find myself thinking about
my friends.  I want to leave, but I don't want to
leave my friends.  So I stay, and one-by-one,
they leave me.

I find myself wondering what the
prophetic Odell would say about my situation?

Vacation - what to do?

2008-08-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

This week it rained.

I took the next couple of weeks off. I have no idea where to go or what to do.

I've got a few errands to do, but I did most of them before the vaca even got started.

I have some photos to edit and deliver - that'll take a day.

I've got a BBQ scheduled in Rolla for my birthday - probably no one will come.

I have a baseball game in KC scheduled for Saturday and a birthday party on Sunday.

I just found out that my home town of Lamar, MO is having the summer fair during the vacation - maybe I'll go there.

I've been thinking of opening a photo studio - maybe I'll head to St Louis and look for some space.

My friends think I should go to the Redwoods or the beach - maybe I'll head to California and see if anything's changed...

Balloon Project Status: JAFO

2008-08-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

The fates have conspired to make it impossible for me to continue with the high altitude balloon project. When I began this project over a year ago, I saw it as a way to reduce stress and to get multiple groups of people at my day job to work together. After much reflection, I do not believe that it's had that effect.

The first flight was a lot of work. I didn't agree with some of the choices being made for the first flight, and expressing my opinions about those choices only led to more problems and more stress at my day job. Preparation of the second flight was really stressful and I decided to take a break from the project. Electronics I understand. Insecurity, not so much.

After the stress of the major project I've spent the last 16 months of my life working on fades away, the direction I should take has become clear. As of today, I'm changing my association from Participant to Observer status. I gave the capsule and associated support equipment to Ryan Lantzer. It was functional when I gave it to him. Everything I know about the construction of the capsule has been posted to my website.

Good luck and Godspeed, General!
Bryan

Renamed the blog.

2008-08-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

The former name was "The Stories of My Life".

I was watching Bull Durham last week. Kevin Costner's character was summarizing baseball in one line. He said "Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains."

So the new name is "...Sometimes it rains".

Loyalty is worth $4/yr...

2008-07-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

I've been with the same insurance company for the last 22 years - Liberty Mutual. I got in one wreck last year, no fault of mine, my car was destroyed and I had a broken toe.

The thieves at Liberty Mutual totally screwed me over - they fought me every step of the way. Customer service constantly called me by my fathers name and could never understand that my name was Bryan, even when I yelled at them for it. They were willing to fix everything that someone could see was wrong from the outside of the car, like the bodywork, but they weren't interested in fixing any of the mechanials or electronics that were destroyed. After about 20 phone calls, I finally got them to agree to pay for about half of the damages to my car. Then they fought with the body shop. They totally convinced me that the full coverage insurance they'd sold me was a total lie - there was no way they were ever going to pay for damages to my car and the car was old and destroyed anyway - so I switched to liability-only.

Recently I bought a new car and needed full-coverage insurance. I didn't really want to use Liberty Mutual, but I was too busy to shop for insurance, so I called Liberty Mutual. They quoted me $930/yr for the new car, so I accepted and paid the first few months of the policy. I received insurance cards and a written policy in the amount of $930. Then they called back. They said that the $930 was a quote and wasn't exact since they didn't have the VIN, and that the actual price would be $1124/yr for the new car. Except that it was a total lie. I gave them the VIN from the start, and it wasn't a quote, they wrote a policy and sent it to me, I accepted and they took my money for it. But they were greedy and stood by their higher new price.

OK, time to start looking. I've seen those Geico commercials like three times an hour for the last 10 years and so I called them. You know what they say - they'll save you hundreds of dollars over what you're paying now. And they did. For the same coverage, they wanted $737/yr, or $387 less than Liberty Mutual.

I called Liberty Mutual and told them about the Geico rate. I made it clear that I would have been happy to have paid $200 too much, and that it was their greediness which caused me to start shopping around, and surprise, the first place I looked was $400/yr cheaper. They thanked me for being a customer for the last 22 years and asked for a chance to reconsider their rates, and I still didn't really want to go to the work of switching insurance companies, so I agreed. They took a day and came back with this response:

"Dear Bryan,

Thanks for allowing me review your account. As requested, attached you will find Automobile Insurance Proposal, we are unable to compete with Geico at this time. Thanks for insuring with Liberty Mutual and have a fantastic day :) "

Because I'd been a loyal customer, the attached proposal was for $1120. $4 cheaper than before, and only $383/yr more than Geico. :)

So I called back Geico and accepted. The guy on the phone could not have known less about insurance, so I gave up and accepted one of the packaged policies that appeared to be similar to what I had with Liberty Mutual, and hopefully without the "Broomstick-up-the-butt" rider the Liberty Mutual policy carried.

Then I called Liberty Mutual. They asked why I would even consider leaving after being a customer for 22 years. So I told them. They seemed sad that they were losing business, but they weren't willing to do anything about it, and they weren't sorry for lying to me. No problem - you're fired.

It occurs to me that they may be right - from what I can tell from other areas of life like relationships and jobs, loyalty is worth about $4 a year.

The cost of a speeding ticket...

2008-07-02T08:18:00.001-07:00

No, I didn't get a speeding ticket three days after I got the new car.

My insurance company of 22 years got greedy about the same time that I got a new car. They issued me a policy for $930, I agreed and paid in full and got a written policy for that amount. Then they called back and wanted $1124. I checked Geico.com, who wanted $425 less for identical coverage.

I actually called Liberty Mutual and told them about the Geico quote and gave them another chance to reconsider and just charge me the original $930 we all agreed to - in writing. After all, I'd insured my cars through them for the last 22 years. They took a while, thought about it, and responded with a counter-proposal of $1120. $4 less than before.

Then I called Geico. Turns out that after they checked the license, they found the speeding ticket I got while driving from STL to Rolla three years ago to see my best friend who was dying from cancer - she actually passed away about the same time as I was stopped in Eureka, MO, trying to explain why I was driving 125MPH by an amusement park which apparently they treat like a school zone.

Well - turns out that Geico checked, and that the quote went up because of the ticket. It went up $23.00/year. But it goes away after three years. So the cost of the speeding ticket is $64 for the ticket, and $23.00/year for the next 6 months, for a total of $75.50.

My analysis says that if I would have paid Eureka, MO the extra bribe money they wanted to reduce the charges to a bad muffler, it would have cost $200 more than it did just paying for the ticket. Unless someone has a bunch of tickets and is in danger of losing a license, it makes no sense to get the charges reduced by paying for a lawyer or paying extra and agreeing to a "lesser" charge.

So I'm done with doing business with Liberty Mutual and with the city of Eureka Missouri. I'll take an alternate route to St Louis.

The New BAT-mobile...

2008-06-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

Picked up the new BAT-mobile Saturday. It's a 2007 BMW 335i.

Here are a few things I hate about it so far:

- It ships from the factory with Runflat tires. And there's no lug wrench in the tool kit. Which is just as well since there's no jack. Since it has runflat tires, there was no need for a spare tire. So there isn't one. Oh, and there isn't a place for a jack, lug wrench or spare tire. Runflat tires are the roughest ride I've ever had.

- The turn signal lever always returns to the center. So to cancel the turn signal, you have to do the same motion again.

- The stereo gets louder when you speed up. No one needs this encouragement to speed. However the road noise doesn't get louder as fast as the stereo.

- The headlights swivel left, right, up and down to illuminate where the car is going. And it's really sensitive. So when you hit a bump...

- The keys are coded differently, so the car can sense which driver is approaching and can customize seat position and radio settings for whatever person is going to drive it. So when I pick up the wrong key, it slams me forward into the steering wheel and then fully inflates the lumbar adjustment in the seat, shoving me even further forward. Oh, and when you accidently pick up both keys? It switches every 5 minutes. While you're driving.

- The steering wheel tilt/swivel adjustment is manual. They put 14 motors on the seats (really) and no motors on the steering wheel adjustment. So it can't adjust itself for different drivers (see above). What kind of peasant adjusts his/her own steering wheel? Me, apparently.

- Premium fuel only.

- There is no dipstick. The computer will *tell* you if it's low on oil...

Bryan

Bribing the computer guy....

2008-02-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me that it's way to cheap to bribe the computer guy. Here's how that usually goes:

Friend/Customer: "My laptop is broked. Yes, I know this is the third time this week. Please accept the pizza taped to the computer as a peace offering."

Computer Guy: "OK."

(Customer leaves, munching ensues)

Computer Guy: "And you shouldn't tape pizza to your computer any more. In fact, just don't put tape on it at all."

The "Sweet! I just got a pizza!" thought lasts for the first slice or two, then the realization sets in:

The pizza costs $7.99 + tax. The bad news is that it came taped to five hours of work. So I'm making $1.75/hr, with no chance for tips, because the pizza was the tip.

Grrrr....

PIC Programming...

2008-02-26T01:49:00.001-08:00

I've been working with Microchip PICs, which appeal to me because of the ability to choose what features I want in a chip by choosing a different chip, and they're super-cheap. But the IDE leaves everything to be desired. They fixed the "C costs $600" problem by including a lite version for free with the latest IDE. Haven't tried it - don't program C. I've been using Pic Basic Pro. First it doesn't integrate into the IDE at all. It has these DLLs that have to be registered every time you boot and no script to do that for you. Then you have to figure out which of the badly named executables you want the IDe to compile with. I don't know, so I had to guess my way through the list. Which one was it? PBPW.exe. As of version 8.0, the Project Wizard, needed to create the 6 or so files required by the IDE to compile and burn to chip, is broken. No error messages say this - oh no, they say "Error Cannot Open .MAC". No problem - I'll copy a project I created in an older version of MPLAB and it worked fine. Next up is the issue of the Oscillator type on your dev board. RC is marked properly. EC, LP and XT aren't. And you have to choose this option every time you write to the chip. No compiler directives here. Then when you go to burn the chip, you can't just select the programmer you want to use. Nope. You have to run the programmer wizard, which has no choices at all, just walks you through what it's doing in eight easy steps. When you finally get to choose the programmer you want to use, MPLAB updates the firmware in the programmer, consuming another few minutes or so.

The Arduino uC boards may not have much going for them - a slow chip with fewer outputs and fixed frequency PWM come to mind - but they do have an easy-to-use programming interface and a free language other than Assembler. It might not seem like much, but the ability to program the thing without special expensive hardware, and the availability of a free language, and the free USB interface and preprogrammed bootloaders clearly appeals to way more people than the PIC does.

It won't be long until PIC goes the way of the 6502 dinosaur. At least that's what they deserve.

Memories of Showbiz Pizza Place...

2008-02-24T22:35:00.001-08:00

See that bear in the top right corner? That’s the one that started me down this path.

There was this birthday party (my birthday party) a long time ago. This bear kept playing the same song over and over again. It was singing Happy Birthday to the kid that was there before me. And everyone in the place looks at me and my party and claps and yells Happy Birthday to Adam every time he finishes. And but it was my birthday now and he’s still singing about this other kid. After like eight times, I get tired of this and It’s Go Time! So I jump the only thing separating me from the bear – the Velvet Ropes. And I try to take away his banjo, but it was screwed on or something. So I just start wailing on this bear. And he’s still playing Happy Birthday to the kid, who’s probably moved on to Skeeball by then but I hope he was totally traumatized by the whole affair, because I sure was.

Did I mention I was traumatized by a bear when I was a kid? Oh, yes, a couple of them. The first one was this story book they made me read over and over again. The bear has these big claws and he’s like leaping out of the page, and it’s like 3D of the 70s or something, so it looks totally real. Got so bad that grandpa had to tape a bank check over the bear so I wouldn’t freak out and stay awake for three days. Then someone else in my family goes out and buys me this bear shaped rocking chair, with the bear as the back of the chair and the arms of the chair are the arms of the bear. So not only can you not see what the bear is up to because your back is to him, but he’s got his arms around you. That messed me up for years. He’s still sitting down in Grandpa’s basement with a black trash bag over the bear part. Like I don’t know he’s lurking, waiting until I’m asleep. Like I’m dumb enough even as a three year old to believe that a black plastic trash bag is bear-proof. Yeah.

Long story short: I got the whole birthday party thrown out of the Showbiz Pizza. And there’s no one to drive us all home – we’re just standing out in the Venture’s parking lot. In the rain.

Look closely at the bear in the top right corner. His name is Billy Bob. He killed my birthday party.

Balloon 2.0...

2008-02-24T22:32:00.000-08:00

Been doing some work on the electronics for Balloon v2.0. It's scheduled to go up on 03/29/2008.

It will have a lighter battery, a lighter and higher resolution camera with a separate battery to power the cam through the flight.

Bad Customer Service? You're Fired!

2007-12-28T16:13:00.000-08:00

Had a bad experience today. Actually it was four separate bad experiences with four different companies, and one surprisingly good experience where I never expected it.

1) BMW Repair returns a call after three business days, telling me they did charge me $150 for diagnosing my car. What's wrong with it? The ABS light is on. I know that, and I told you that when I dropped it off - what's causing the ABS light to be on? We don't know - we need you to authorize another diagnostic fee to determine what's wrong with it. What was the first diagnostics fee for if you didn't diagnose anything? OK, so lets just get the car fixed. It's been more than a month at this point. We'll call you later today when we know how much the parts and labor are. To no ones surprise, Walt doesn't call. I call, Walt is gone for the day. Because of the holidays, Walt won't be back for over a week, and no further progress will be made until Walt returns. My response? You're fired.

2) Tried to ship two packages with Fedex at 5:01pm. I'm sorry - we don't accept Fedex Ground packages after 5pm. Our system is shut down for the day. You'll have to bring them back tomorrow between 9am and 5pm. But you're still open until 6pm? We're a Fedex Express location. We only accept Fedex Ground packages between 9 and 5. It's for your convenience. They actually told me it was for my convenience that I had to bring the packages back later. If you won't take the packages tonight, I'm going to ship them some other way. Sorry. OK, you're fired. After I walk out the door: Sir! I made a mistake! OK, that's more like it, I think, so I go back inside, where she tells me that the mistake she made wasn't in telling me they couldn't accept my packages, I'd still have to bring them back later, but because of the holidays, they wouldn't be accepted until next Wednesday (5 days from now), and then only between 9am and 5pm. My response? Why would you possibly think it necessary to tell me this after I fired you 5 seconds ago?

3) Tried to ship the same boxes at UPS. To my surprise, they're open. I fill out the appropriate forms, where I learn that the cost to ship is $5/box more than it would have been at Fedex. Our insurance costs more than Fedex. That should have been a clue to run, but I missed it. Anyone who charges more for insurance believes less in the ability of their employees to get the package there undamaged. No problem, I think. For good customer service, it's worth it. Is that a credit card? We only take cash or check. Interesting - Fedex only takes credit cards. OK, fine - not as good of a customer service experience as I originally thought, but I can still get them shipped and accomplish my goal. I still have time to run into town (UPS is 5 miles outside of town) and pick up cash, come back and pay. I drive 5 miles into town, pick up cash, drive 5 miles back out to UPS, who has opened my packages. "We reserve the right to inspect all packages." OK, why did you inspect mine? "You declared a value over $1000. " OK, are you satisfied that they were what I stated on the form? Yes. Great, can we pack them back up and ship them now? No, they contain fragile contents. You knew that before you opened the box - I wrote it on the form. We no longer accept anything fragile. Everything you ship is fragile. I've seen the way you treat packages - it's all over YouTube.com! What is the insurance for, then, if not to insure me that you're not going to break what's in the box? To pay you if we lose it outright. So you're not going to ship it now? No. OK, you're fired.

4) I've worked up quite the appetite after my firing spree, so I go through the drive-thru of my local McDonalds. I'd like a #5- Is that with cheese or without? Without. OK now, what did you want? A #5 with a Diet Coke. We're out of Hi-C. OK, I didn't want that anyway. What did you want? A #5 WITH A DIET COKE!. You're new here, aren't you? Happy Holidays - please pull forward! It still says Hi-C on the screen. I want a Diet Coke. I don't think we have that - this is McDonalds. You're new here, aren't you? No. I've been here three years. "You're fire!." And I drive off.

5) I still had the packages, so I went to the automated postage machine in the post office and managed to ship the packages after 5pm, even though they contained fragile contents and without firing the machine. Now if they only had automated cheeseburger and french fry dispensers...

The BBQ Club...

2007-11-01T18:04:00.001-07:00

Tonight was the last BBQ of the year for the BBQ Club. Fall has fallen quickly this year and it doesn't look like the weather will hold for another one.

We had a terrific turnout of friends and coworkers - twelve people in all, and a stray cat. There literally wasn't enough room to swing a cat.

Ms Melissa stopped by, simultaneously starting both trouble and rumour, visited a few minutes, then dashed away home before the others started to arrive. Don and Charles, practicing firebugs, honed their skill and we were cooking in no time. While waiting for the food, we played a game of "Hit the tree with the Frisbee".

Tim did an awesome job of cooking and in no time we had a feast. Hamburgers and brats were on the menu, along with chips, popcorn, fresh sliced tomatoes and cheddar cheese that was just sharp enough. Shared around the picnic table were tales of awesome BBQs past, and of the hair and eyebrows they cost us. Everyone agreed that the burgers they produced more than made them worth it. Jen tried to cook herself in an attempt to stay warm. We all fed the cat, and when it got pushy and tried to jack our food, I had to run it off. It ran a bit slow, with a tummy full of cheeseburger.

We gathered firewood and then gathered around a bonfire that smelled a lot like a leaf fire. When that ran out, it was time to go home and it was kind of sad. Soon my friends will be leaving and I wonder if we'll be able to get together for another BBQ...

I found out where balloons go...

2007-09-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

The space balloon launch was a total success. The first one sank to Earth. We added more Helium and the second flight rose about 20ft before crashing into some trees and power lines. Luckily the tree ripped the FAA-required radar reflector off of the craft and then the balloon rose over the treeline and was on its way.

We relocated to Panera Bread in Rolla and watched the Internet and data packets as the balloon climbed to ~30,000ft, where it took off like it had a rocket up its ass. By the time we got into cars and on the road, it was at 52,000ft. We sped to Jeff City where Mark knew an amateur radio guy whose name I didn't get. We watched the internet for about 15 mins before the balloon burst when it was at 96,649ft and the payload fell to Earth near Ashland, MO.

At the bottom of a 200ft deep canyon. And it landed 50ft up a tree. With no limbs. Really. The rest of the party carefully hiked down into a canyon where the tree was located, and I took the express route. I slipped, fell, rolled down about 50ft, scraping and cutting myself *all over*, coming to rest when my back struck a solid tree.

We were lucky. I could walk and didn't have to be extricated by helicopter. When we got to the top of the canyon, we met the guy that owned the place. He was a great guy and not only let us cut the tree down, but gave us the axe to do it and gave everyone Cokes/beer/water and let me clean up at the pump after my fall.

"You'll have Poison Ivy. If you get it." Oh, good.

The APRS tracking system worked perfectly. We were heard as far as Tennessee and Ontario, Canada using only a 3 Watt handheld transmitter. The onboard battery continued to transmit for another two hours after touchdown while others in the party cut the tree down. We got the payload back in excellent condition with the exception of the antenna, which had a couple of broken dowels and will have to be remade. The onboard M&Ms were all cracked, but they're fine, and will be sold on eBay ASAP.

Best news is that I apparently don't get Poison Ivy/Oak.

Now I know where the balloons go - Ashland, MO.

More pics here.

B

Call me Levon...

2007-09-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered where those balloons go when you let go of them? Me too. And I'm about to find out.

Recently some friends were standing around my office when someone found a pic shot from 100,000ft. And it was the coolest pic I've ever seen.

Someone says "Hey, we could do that!" And that was all it took to convince a group of otherwise intelligent people to all think all at the same time "Lets put a balloon in space!"

OK, I have nothing else to do with the next three months of my life, so whatever.

How hard could it be? Nothing to it, right? Camera and a balloon. Except that it gets cold at that altitude, so you need some insulation around the camera to keep the battery working. And it still gets cold, so you need a special type of Lithium to work at -40C. And if you over-discharge the battery, it's dead for life. OK, so balloon, camera, Styrofoam cooler, and Lithium Ion battery with protection circuitry and a special battery charger that charges each cell individually, because if you don't, they might just blow up and kill you or set the house on fire.

And if we ever want to see the camera again, we better be able to find it when it lands. Hey, wait a minute - it does land, doesn't it? Well, it really depends on the type of balloon. If it's Mylar, it may take a month to come back. But it turns out that weather balloons are built to burst at a specific altitude around 100,000ft - just what we wanted! OK, so $65 special balloon, camera, cooler, battery, battery charger and a parachute to recover the camera safely when the balloon pops.

Wait - how do we get the camera back? We could stick a note on it so that people could call us when they find it. Except that's how my friend got the digital camera he has - by not calling the number on the lost camera he found. Guess we better track it. It needs a GPS on board to be able to tell us where it is, that part is clear. And it needs something to read the GPS and phone us with that info. First plan was to use a cell phone to text us the coordinates, but no one knew if a cell phone worked at 100,000ft - that's at least 20 miles from the nearest tower! We saw that other balloon groups used amateur radios to send their info back. APRS was developed for the purpose of remote tracking. That was good enough for us. So for APRS you need a Serial GPS, an interface that reads the serial GPS data stream and converts the data to AX25 packets which are transmitted via the amateur radio to repeater towers, where the data makes its way onto the internet. Research showed that most GPSes made have a 60,000ft limitation, so we had to choose a special Garmin GPS18 serial GPS that works at over 60,000ft. We found a device called a TinyTrack 3 that converts the serial stream from the GPS into AX25 packets for the amateur radio, but one of us heard from another guy that no one really knows that TinyTrack 3's suck, so we have to find something else. We found a guy that used one of his own products to safely recover his balloon, so we bought an Open Tracker 2 OT2m radio modem. Except the OpenTracker didn't exactly come with any manual or any documentation. The radio is a Yaesu VX-2R, which was cheap, small and lightweight. The radio didn't work as-is with the battery, so I built an adjustable voltage regulator board. OK, so all we need is a $65 balloon, a camera, cooler, and a parachute, Garmin GPS18 Serial GPS, an OpenTracker OT2m radio modem, battery, battery charger, special cable, and Yaesu VX-2R amateur radio.

Most of the stuff arrived about two weeks ago and we got together to configure and test everything. First thing was that the OEM GPS had to have a special cable made that would provide +5VDC to the GPS, and that would connect to the serial port on my computer for testing. Then it turns out the GPS takes forever to get a lock and doesn't work if it's anywhere near a building. At all. So it took a couple of days to get the GPS to output coordinates other than Garmin HQ. When it did, they were in units of fractional degrees (38.123456 degrees), not degrees/Minutes/Seconds. So without a lot of converting, Google Maps shows the wrong location. Next problem was that the radio was receiving packets from the repeater tower which the OpenTracker was decoding, but the radio was never transmitting. After about 10 hours of unnecessary trial and error and analysis on the radio mic, we reasoned out the radio data cable we needed to build, and sure enough, it worked. We went to findu.com, searched for our call sign, and sure enough - we were transmitting GPS data info to the internet! The pizza arrived and all was good for a little while, and then it all went wrong. We were using an wall transformer power supply to power the GPS and OpenTracker, and we were switching back and forth. The GPS required 5Vdc and the OpenTracker requires at least 6.5Vdc. And when I forgot to reconfigure the voltage on the power supply and applied 6.5V to the GPS, it died a silent death. OK, so all we need is a $65 balloon, a camera, cooler, and a parachute, Garmin GPS18 Serial GPS, a Garmin GPS18 to replace the dead Garmin GPS, an OpenTracker OT2m radio modem, battery, battery charger, special cable, homemade voltage regulator to power the radio, Yaesu VX-2R amateur radio, laptop and smart phone to connect the laptop to the internet.

Then someone got the idea to track this thing using an aircraft with radio direction finding equipment. OK, so we're going to need a way to communicate with the ground, a way to find the balloon, another radio operator, a cross band repeater and a couple of homemade antennas that we can mount on the aircraft for the comms, another antenna which will be used for direction finding, another GPS for the aircraft, a $65 balloon, a camera, cooler, and a parachute, Garmin GPS18 Serial GPS, a Garmin GPS18 to replace the dead Garmin GPS, an OpenTracker OT2m radio modem, battery, battery charger, special cable, homemade voltage regulator to power the radio and Yaesu VX-2R amateur radio, laptop and smart phone.

Oh, by the way. The airport where the aircraft is based has a radio receiver that pilots use to turn on the landing lights. You guys are good with electronics - how about if you look at it? It's been out for a month or so. Three hours later and it's working.

The plane radio tests were conducted last Saturday. We were able to communicate with the plane. We were able to place the radio tracking device in the plane and fly it around and see the coordinates popping up in real time on the internet. Sweet! We attempted to receive the packet data from the balloon itself (using another handheld amateur radio) and decode them using the soundcard in my laptop, but the cable wasn't right and that test failed. The best part was that it was raining all dang day, and yet no one bailed out because of the rain - stuff still got done! When we analyzed the data, we saw that it stopped transmitting coordinates toward the end of the flight. Not a good sign.

Today I was able to determine that inserting a mono cable into my Dell laptop Microphone port shorts the thing out entirely. OK, so I'll use a stereo cable. But then I learned that only one of the two channels in the stereo mic port is actually connected. The left one. So one more special cable and I was able to decode info from the OpenTracker and from the repeater tower using the laptop. So far, the experiment requires two radio operators, a cross band repeater and a couple of homemade antennas that we can mount on the aircraft, another antenna which will be used for direction finding, GPS for the aircraft, a $65 balloon, a camera, cooler, a parachute, Garmin GPS18 Serial GPS, a Garmin GPS18 to replace the dead Garmin GPS, an OpenTracker OT2m radio modem, battery, battery charger, special cable, homemade voltage regulator to power the radio and Yaesu VX-2R amateur radio, laptop and smart phone, special audio cable to connect laptop to second radio, and software to decode packet data.

The internet coordinate data will be good enough to get us close, so long as it works. But what if the radio stops transmitting to the internet during the balloon flight? With luck, the radio will still respond to a ping request from another radio. The aircraft direction finder may or may not get us closer (it hasn't been tested yet), but what do we do when we're on the ground? OK, so we need another handheld radio and a direction finding antenna. And two radio operators, a cross band repeater and a couple of homemade antennas that we can mount on the aircraft, another antenna which will be used for direction finding, GPS for the aircraft, a $65 balloon, a camera, cooler, a parachute, Garmin GPS18 Serial GPS, a Garmin GPS18 to replace the dead Garmin GPS, an OpenTracker OT2m radio modem, battery, battery charger, special cable, homemade voltage regulator to power the radio and Yaesu VX-2R amateur radio, laptop and smart phone, special audio cable to connect laptop to second radio, and software to decode packet data.

Then someone gets the idea to test the equipment at the actual temperatures we'll be experiencing at altitude. Dry ice. Except that they don't sell it in our town or any town within 50 miles of here.

So Saturday morning at 7am we plan to cram all this stuff in an even larger cooler, pack it full of dry ice, put it in a car and drive it around for four hours to test the reliability of . We'll test locating from the ground, locating from the air, operating in cold temps, tracking the payload capsule, and our ability to maintain a fix on the payload while stopping every 5 minutes to buy more Fritos to feed the computer geeks staffing the mission.

Assuming all goes well, launch date will be 9/23/2007.

Bryan A. Thompson
bryan@batee.com

...and then sometimes it rains...

2007-07-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

"Think I'll wash the car" invariably leads to "Better not - it's going to rain."

Recently we've had a couple of fundraising events for American Cancer Society that have been rained out. For the first, we were standing under a weatherproof canopy, I can see sunshine, I've looked at the RADAR and know there'll be a break in the weather in five minutes, and everyone except me calls it a day and goes home. For the second, they didn't even bother to show up, even though the rain had disappeared long before the concert was scheduled to take place. What's more important - curing cancer or staying dry? Guess which one won.

The best concert I ever went to was an Eagles reunion in 1995 in KC. Poured down rain the whole time, and because they were so good and everyone was having such a great time, no one dared to leave. Some of the best photos I've taken have been in pouring down rain. How'd I get it to look like that? It wasn't photoshop - I waited until it looked like that and then I took its picture, that's how. It's amazing to me how many people - adults mostly - treat any day that rains like a snow day. So much for Pioneering Spirit in us Americans. Two drops of rain fall on the windshield and it's all "I'm taking the day off."

"The game was rained out," "The race was rained out," and "The concert was rained out" are all perfectly acceptable statements in our society. People would rather give up the opportunity to see a ball game, race or concert than to do the unthinkable - get wet. Forget about whatever we were going to do, no matter how important it is. Nothing is as important as staying dry.

"I'll go wax the car. Maybe that'll make it rain so I don't have to mow the yard."

So I started thinking about the times when people didn't have a choice. Valley Forge was an unseasonably cold winter - freeze/thaw cycles turned roads to mush, effectively cutting off Washington's supply lines, and yet somehow they survived and were still victorious. Storms masked detection of the carrier fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor, making the attack that much more effective. The bomber carrying the second Atomic bomb that hit Japan couldn't find the target for over an hour because of a thunderstorm, but a slight amount of patience on the part of Major Charles Sweeney allowed him to find a hole in the clouds and accomplish the goal of ending the war with Japan just two days later. Rains 40 days and 40 nights, and Noah made lemonade out of it. And yet D Day was postponed a day because of rain. Why? Because Ike was a chicken, that's why.

"Oh, I can't go outside, I just had my hair done and it might rain." "It's raining - it'll mess up my makeup!" The only person who should ever complain about these things is Chief Rain In The Face. He was only 10 when he got that name after the rain caused his makeup to run. I guess if you're an Indian and your makeup runs, you're branded for life. Otherwise, get out and do something with your lives. Go shopping. Wash the car and mow the yard. Stay until they cancel the game, then tell your friends you were there for the whole thing. It's only a little rain! Unless you're a witch or a computer tech, trust me, you're not going to melt.

So the next time someone walks out in the rain and then complains the obvious "It's raining!" Don't let them get away with it - call it like you see it.

"It's raining!"

"Chicken"

Helping others...

2007-07-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

I'm now convinced that it isn't possible to help others. People that ask for help don't mean it. Not ever. They might think they want help, but they really don't.

So I'm all through trying to help others. It's nothing but a waste of time.

Supreme...

2007-07-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Had a Supreme Pizza from Pizza hut last night. Pan crust. Best pizza ever.