Tech « white male consumer

Activities Behind The Scenes

Posted February 8th, 2010 at 1:52PM

I’ve been actively plugging away with both this site and other projects in the past few days. The employment side of things is also looking rosy, so while posts might come slow over the foreseeable future, rest assured it’s not for lack of time in front of the computer!

I completed the promised site redesign here, switching to the Atahualpa theme but keeping the same color palette from the previous incarnation. Everything is running smoothly for the time being but I need to work on the archive page. I’ve been running a pretty sleek plug-in for displaying archives, but displaying all 700-odd posts on a single page is asking too much so I’m on the hunt for a better solution.

In related news, I’m currently working on an e-commerce site running CRE Loaded. While I don’t know if I’ll ever master that particular package or the concerns and issues of e-commerce security, its great experience to get under the belt. I’m making a small sum and its given me the crazy notion of monetizing more of the various coding and design work I’ve played with for years.

To that end I’ll be retooling surfingonarocket.com to function as a professional portfolio site. Eventually I’ll be able to point potential employers there for proof positive of various skills, from writing and editing AP style to coding and designing, Web 2.0-style. I want to become more productive to that end, finally putting out some original WordPress themes and completing freelance work of any variety. We’ll see how that goes.

I took the census entrance exam the other day and answered 27 out of 28 correctly. I couldn’t for the life of me determine what I got wrong, since I was able to work through the entire test twice in the 30 minutes they gave us and wasn’t uncertain over any answer. But then when I took the practice I filled out the incorrect bubble on one where I knew the right choice, so its anyones guess. Apparently 10 correct will get you a job so I’m not concerned enough to re-take the test, and hopefully missing one won’t preclude me from an office job or anything besides being an ‘enumerator’ (the people responsible for going door to door, and, apparently, getting guns pointed at them on a regular basis – according to a 2000 census veteran). Office job will pay better too.

The final word? Even without the certainty of employment I’m planning my first track outing of 2010 – it’ll be at Monticello Motor Club with SCDA, May 17th. There will be a MINI contingent and associated discount, and I’m officially pumped. My MINI is still tucked away in the garage (now completely enclosed with very nice electric garage doors!) but it’s just a tech check and fluid change away from being ready for the event. Well, not quite, but close enough.

Till later, intrepid readers!

I Promise To Blog More, World (Srsly?)

Posted January 13th, 2010 at 12:13PM

I’ve been playing with the most recent version of WordPress – 2.9.x at this point – and have been pleasantly surprised at each turn by some of the recent changes. The sad thing is I don’t think any of these are “new”; it’s just that I haven’t spent much time back here lately.

The WYSIWYG editor seems fully functional and reliable. I’ve always used the HTML editor (posts around here tend to be simple anyway). But I could get used to the new editor, especially with the fullscreen mode! (I don’t have much good to say about my PowerBook’s 1024×768 12″ display, going on five years old.)
I’m also just beginning to install and upgrade themes, plug-ins, and WP itself from the admin backend, and it is a godsend.
Along the same lines, I discovered the Atahualpa theme, which as a “theme framework” adds a whole new layer of accessibility with complete step-by-step access and control of site design through the WP backend.
And when reading this, keep in mind that I connect to the internet at a blazing 26.4 kbps. The WP admin still loads flawlessly and skipping my end of the connection speeds up installs / upgrades / theming exponentially.

So I’m intent on making MULTIPLE posts in January. There are a few topics on the burner and I notice the old Twitter hasn’t been updated in nearly two months. Huh. I’d like to refurb the pages, particularly the links and colophon. I’m definitely getting the itch to make some design changes. I’ll either polish the hell out of the current theme (by Ahren Ahimsa), or move to Atahualpa.

Site (S)news

Posted August 13th, 2009 at 12:19PM

I’ve been working on integrating a new theme to wmc. Things are moving smoothly and I’m pretty much done with the change over. The archives page is undergoing renovations that’ll hopefully be completed soon.

There is some horizontal scrolling on my laptop, but the menu easily expands and minimizes, eliminating this. I also know most people are using higher resolutions than I, so there’s less wasted space now. Let me know what you think and of any errors or oddities you may encounter.

Still on the ‘to-do’ list is substantial updating to the About and My MINI pages.

“(S)news”? Get it? Snooze? Ah, I’ll post something worthwhile later.

Connecting Ps3 To Powerbook Interweb

Posted January 18th, 2009 at 1:48PM

I’ve been trying to share media between my Powerbook and Playstation 3 so that I can keep all of my audio and video files on my external hard drive, and watch them on the TV. Haven’t figured it out yet (looks like 3rd party software is necessary). But in the process, I’ve gotten it so my PS3 is now online, wirelessly connected to dial-up! Woo!

So far I’ve been able to log into the Playstation Network and use the PS3 internet browser, but no multiplayer inside a game (keeps timing out, understandably). Also doesn’t help that all of my games are out of date and ask to download updates before connecting. It’d be a riot if I could attempt multiplayer over dial-up though.

Anyway, it took a lot of trial + error to get my laptop to share internet via AirPort (using “DHCP” – whatever that means), so here’s my former stumbling block:

Make Internet Sharing DHCP work with an Xbox/Xbox 360 (or PS3!)
(for OSX 10.4+)

Start Internet Sharing if it’s not already running.

Open NetInfo Manager, located in /Applications » Utilities. Authenticate as an administrator using the lock icon in the lower-left.

Navigate to the /config/dhcp node (so that dhcp is selected in the browser pane).

In the lower pane, find the reply_threshold_seconds property and change its value from 4 to 0.

Quit NetInfo Manager and then restart your Mac.

After the restart, open NetInfo Manager again and confirm that reply_threshold_seconds is still 0.

Hope it helps someone!

WP 2.7

Posted December 17th, 2008 at 9:39PM

Awww, WordPress. I upgraded to version 2.7 tonight, courtesy of some help from Bakshi (check his dead blog here). Most of the changes are in the admin back-end, so sorry if you’re not seeing anything different. This side is greatly improved from my cursory examination though.

Yeah, I’m really just using this space to finally get my Nov. 5th post off the front page. That was eons ago! I’m already getting mail regarding Obama’s re-election bid in ‘12. *cough*

White Spaces Victory

Posted November 11th, 2008 at 10:38AM

I missed this little gem until Google (via their Free the Airwaves campaign) alerted me to it today:

All eyes are on the presidential election today, but another important vote just took place at the Federal Communications Commission. By a vote of 5-0, the FCC formally agreed to open up the “white spaces” spectrum — the unused airwaves between broadcast TV channels — for wireless broadband service for the public. This is a clear victory for Internet users and anyone who wants good wireless communications.

The FCC has been looking at this issue carefully for the last six years. Google has worked hard on this matter with other tech companies and public interest groups because we think that this spectrum will help put better and faster Internet connections in the hands of the public. We also look forward to working with the FCC to finalize the method used to compute power levels of empty channels adjacent to TV channels (we have a number of public filings before the commission in this area and it is a vital issue in urban areas).

I’ve always thought that there are a lot of really incredible things that engineers and entrepreneurs can do with this spectrum. We will soon have “Wi-Fi on steroids,” since these spectrum signals have much longer range than today’s Wi-Fi technology and broadband access can be spread using fewer base stations resulting in better coverage at lower cost. And it is wonderful that the FCC has adopted the same successful unlicensed model used for Wi-Fi, which has resulted in a projected 1 billion Wi-Fi chips being produced this year. Now that the FCC has set the rules, I’m sure that we’ll see similar growth in products to take advantage of this spectrum.

I’m very excited to hear the news and I think taking advantage of white spaces is the best chance of universal, low cost high speed internet. It’s especially encouraging that Google has taken such a stake in the issue.

Site Update Quickie

Posted October 18th, 2008 at 7:09PM

I made a few changes to the site today. Changed the header, minimal updates to the MINI and About sections.

I’ve been watching a lot of Letterman. I was uncomfortable even sitting in my living room watching McCain attempt humor. But Tina Fey was great last night. Tonight is supposed to be the night we get a Fey – Palin face off on SNL. I’m a bit disappointed they would even have Palin on, but I understand the draw.

No inclination to make a substantial post, but tomorrow is the last autocross so I should have results afterwards. (Come to think of it, I never made a post about the last event in September… Sheeet.)

Carry onward, you crazy Christian soldiers!