Category Personal Health Travel News and Events

A few weeks ago I had one of the most relaxing days of my life.

If you haven't read about my long walk, go do that now. It is the catalyst for this entry.

After I finished at my customer's office that Friday, I headed back to my hotel and called it an early night. The previous evening's stay at the hospital really wiped me out, I needed sleep, and I needed a lot of it. I had an early dinner and climbed into bed before 7 PM.

The next morning I awoke feeling refreshed and grateful to be alive. I started the day out with a 20 minute run on the hotel elliptical machine, then dropped my laundry off at the Chinese Laundry, and called Tanya while having breakfast. I wanted to do something "touristy" for the day. While talking to Tanya I mentioned that I was thinking about taking a bike ride, and she told me that sounded like a great idea. She was, as usual, absolutely right.

After breakfast I stopped back at the hotel for a shower and change of clothes, then headed off towards Bike N Roll at the corner of Lombard & Columbus. It had been less than 24 hours since my release from the hospital, but the cardiologist had ruled out heart problems. I was still feeling some chest pain, but it went away with exercise. So I wasn't worried about dropping dead from a heart attack or anything like that. (I still don't know for certain what the problem is. My doctor has some suspicions, but we won't know until my test results come back.

One of my favorite things about San Francisco has always been the walk along Columbus, from the Financial District up towards the bay. The walk skirts the edges of Chinatown, passes through Little Italy and North Beach, and finishes up at Bay Street near the Maritime Historic Park. There are all kinds of very cool shops, bookstores, restaurants and street art along the way.

After renting a bike (and helmet, air pump, etc.) I began what would turn out to be a 27 mile round trip. I started out by rolling down the hill towards Fisherman's Wharf. Once there I rode west along the bay, thoroughly enjoying myself.

At the western edge of San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, at the edge of Van Ness Avenue, there is a weird sort of man made seawall that extends out into the bay. At the end of this extension is a large round point kind of platform. I rode out along this to the end of the point. The view of the bay, the city, and the Maritime museum from here is spectacular. I looked around for a placard or a sign or something that would identify what this was, but couldn't seem to find one. I'm sure that this thing has a real name, but I was unable to figure it out.

I rode up McDowell Avenue towards Fort Mason. This was the first of the "what was I thinking" hills I would climb throughout the rest of the day. At the top of the hill is a dog park. I rested here for a while, took a few pictures of some dogs (a rather odd habit of mine, inspired by this website), and talked to Tanya on the cellphone. Then I followed Laguna Street to Marina Blvd, and rode west along Marina towards Chrissy Beach.

When I arrived at Chrissy Beach I parked my bike, took off my sandals, and splashed about a bit in the water. It was freaky cold, but I didn't mind. While drying my feet I met this fellow. He was having a great time playing water fetch with his human.

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Posted by Devin Olson At 11:29:06 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (5)

Category Technical Reviews

As many of you are probably aware, I'm using a not-yet-released IDE for development testing, and am running it on Windows 7 RC (64 bit).

So far, I've found it to be much more stable than the previous Gold Release version. As with any "test" version of software, there are some issues, but on the whole this version is shaping up nicely.

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Posted by Devin Olson At 18:19:53 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (10)

Category Bitching Fun Technology

Tonight's changeover from analog to digital television marks the end of an age.

This age is gone, and with it our worries of being continually harassed with a barrage of advertisements, news stories, placards, flyers, and all manner of irritants foisted upon us by an army of well-meaning idiots.

I remember many years ago when it all began with a minor news story about digital television. That moment marked the beginning of an ocean of torment pounding against the rocks of our intellect, slowly eroding our will to think for ourselves. I remember screaming vainly into the night earlier this year when I heard that our newly elected president had ordered that the date of changeover be pushed back to June. The anguish I felt when I realized I would be forced to endure another five months of torture cannot be measured.

Thankfully, it all comes to an end tonight. Never again will I, nor any other, be forced to hear yet another damnable story about how the digital changeover is coming, and what we need to do to prepare for it. Never again will I have to endure a PSA telling me how to get a coupon from the government giving me a discount on the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter. Never again will I have my soul crushed upon learning that some percentage of Americans are too fucking stupid to realize that this is the 21st century, and it is time to replace the 20 year old rabbit ear TV with something a bit more modern.

Free at last, free at last!

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 16:04:33 Location BARTing from Walnut Creek to Embarcadero | Permalink | Comments (6)

Category Personal Health Travel Technology News and Events

A week ago today I took what seemed the longest walk of my life.

It took 27 minutes to walk from my customer's office building to the hospital. It is only 1.2 miles, but if you've ever walked up Pine from Front to Hyde, you know it is quite a hike.

Ok, let me back up a minute and start again.

Last Thursday I was at a customer site in San Francisco, CA. Over the last 10 years I've visited the city enough times to become very familiar with it. San Francisco is quite possibly my very favorite town to visit, but it has been a few years since I've been here.

For the last several weeks I've been start-stalling (starting, then stalling out, then starting again, then stalling out, etc) a diet and exercise program. I'm a fat (275 - 285 lbs), out of shape, nearly 45 year old male with a family history of coronary disease. I've had my own episode in the past; so I am well aware of how important it is to drop the weight and get back in shape.

I arrived in San Francisco last Monday, and hadn't been feeling well (short of breath, very tired) the entire week. When Thursday dawned I decided it was time to start my exercise program again. I hit the treadmill in the hotel first thing in the morning, ate a healthy (oatmeal & fruit) breakfast, and felt better than I had in a while as Tim and I strolled to our customer's offices. However, around 10:30am I started feeling unwell. The tiredness and shortness of breath returned. Just before 2:00pm, the chest pain hit.

The pain hit me so hard it took my breath away. A crushing, heavy, lead-filled knot of pain filled my chest, and ran straight through to my back, underneath my shoulder blade. I didn't have the "radiating pain down the left arm" you hear about, but it was tingling and kind of numb. The alarm bells inside my head started ringing like crazy. It was time to seek medical attention.

Now before you get on my case and tell me I should have called 911, you need to understand a few things. The office I was at is in a very large, very congested city. Had I called 911, it would have been at least 5 - 10 minutes before help arrived. They would have had to evaluate my condition (another 5 minutes), get me downstairs to an ambulance (5 more minutes), and then transport me, through heavy traffic, to the hospital (at least 5 - 10 minutes). That's 20 - 30 minutes (go ahead, do the math yourself) to get to the ER, at an absolute minimum. I'm very familiar with the Financial District; I knew exactly where the hospital was and how to get there. So I figured my chances were much better by walking. Plus, unless you are spurting blood, I believe it is poor form to call paramedics into your customer's office.

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Posted by Devin Olson At 16:19:06 Location BARTing from Walnut Creek to Embarcadero | Permalink | Comments (6)

Category Technical News and Events

Nathan blogged about this the other day. If you haven't taken the time to watch the feature length video, DO IT NOW.

Google Wave = Paradigm shift

Posted by Devin Olson At 17:19:14 Location San Francisco, CA | Permalink | Comments (1)

Category History

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
-John McCrae, 1915.

Memorial Day is tomorrow. For those of you who don't recognize it; the photo at for this entry is of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

Here Rests,
In Honored Glory,
An American Soldier,
Known But To God

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
-Moina Michael , 1915

Do you remember?

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 00:00:00 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Technical Bitching

Chat ID: <redacted>
Problem : Product Functionality Question

Norton Support: You are being transferred to Norton Support.
Norton Support: Welcome to Norton Support, my name is <redacted> Can I please have a minute to go through the information you have provided?
Devin: yes.
Norton Support: Please don’t follow this now – but just in case we get disconnected for any reason, you can follow these instructions to reconnect to me. You'll need to do this within a couple of minutes of being disconnected:
Can you please make a note of these instructions.
1) Open up Internet Explorer and then go to www.norton.com/connectme
2) Enter the [Connection Code] <redacted>
3) Click on [Submit]
Devin: thank you.
Norton Support: May I confirm that the issue you are encountering is you have some Questions related to the product?
Devin: yes.
Devin: I've never used the Norton Ghost, and wanted to make sure I understand what it is capable of doing prior to purchasing.
Norton Support: Thank you for confirming your details. Please make a note of this case no. <redacted> for your future reference.This case number will include the details of today's chat.
Devin: I've used many other Symantec products though.
Devin: Thank you.
Norton Support: Okay Please Go Ahead with your Question
Devin: I have purchased a new laptop, that came preloaded with Windows Vista (64 bit).
Devin: The laptop has a single 5400 RPM 80Gig drive.
Devin: I would like to replace the Hard Drive with a bigger, faster (320G, 7200 RPM) drive.
Norton Support: Okay
Devin: My hope is that I can use Ghost to take a "picture" of the current hard drive, then remove the drive and replace it with the new drive, and then use Ghost to replace the "picture" on the new drive.
Devin: Is this possible?
Norton Support: Yes It is possible
Norton Support: You can use Ghost 14 to do this
Devin: I have access to a network (Windows 2000) file server upon which I can write the data.
Devin: nice.
Norton Support: Use the Option copy my hard drive to do this
Devin: I guess my biggest question is how do I put the image on the new drive, when I can't boot up (because there is no OS on the machine once I remove the old drive)
Devin: Is there some form of "bootable runtime" with Ghost 14? Or do I have to figure out a different way to boot the machine?
Norton Support: You can copy the hard drive if the computer is working fine
Norton Support: Else you wont be able to do it
Devin: The computer currently works perfectly.
Norton Support: Then You can copy the Hrad drive it will work fine
Devin: I just don't understand how I can push the image to the new drive.
Norton Support: Please install the product on the computer download the user manual from the Help menu there you will have all the instructions and details about how the product works v
Norton Support: It basically copies everything from the old drive including the Operating system
Devin: Does the version that is included in Norton 360 do this, or do I need to purchase Norton Ghost as a standalone product?
Norton Support: No Only Ghost can do this for you
Devin: ok, no problem.
Norton Support: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Devin: So once I copy the image from the old drive to the network drive, and than I shut down the machine, and install the new drive, do I boot up to the Norton Ghost CD?
Norton Support: Can I place you on hold, while I check some details for you?
Devin: Yes, absolutely.
Norton Support: Thanks for holding.
Norton Support: The copy cant be taken to a Network drive
Devin: ok.
Devin: hmmm.
Norton Support: You should have a External hard drive to directly copy the content from Souce drive to destination
Devin: where do I write the copy to?
Devin: oh, like a usb drive?
Norton Support: Yes
Devin: (not a thumb drive, but one of those big ones)
Devin: ok.
Norton Support: Its should be a USB drive
Devin: So once I copy it to the external drive, then replace the old hdd with the new hdd, do I then boot up using the Norton Ghost cd?
Norton Support: No if you connect the New drive it will boot on its own
Devin: ?? - but the new drive would be empty. There would be no O/S.
Norton Support: Please read what I have already Typed in
Norton Support: After you make the copy it will boot
Devin: Please, that doesn't make sense to me.
Devin: Here are the steps as I understand them:
Devin: 1) attach USB Drive to machine
Devin: 2) Use Norton Ghost to write image of internal HDD to USB Drive.
Devin: 3) Remove internal HDD and replace with new blank, HDD
Devin: 4) Turn on machine.
Devin: - how does machine boot? Does it boot using the external USB drive?
Norton Support: After you copy the drive its No longer a Blank drive
Norton Support: Its contains Everything the Main drive has
Devin: Wait a minute. Are you really telling me that I should take my new blank INTERNAL laptop HDD, and connect it via USB to my laptop and write the image of my current internal HDD to it?
Norton Support: Yes
Devin: Umm, Is there somebody else I can chat with who understands the difference between external USB and internal SATA?
Norton Support: I can Help you with it
Norton Support: What Do you want to Know
Devin: Ok. I really don't mean to sound rude,
Devin: but it is impossible to connect an internal SATA HDD to an external USB connector. The two interfaces are entirely different.
Norton Support: Can I can you ?
Devin: I can use a third external USB drive as an intermediary to hold the drive image,
Devin: but I don't understand how I can get the image from the USB drive onto the new internal HDD.
Devin: If I can boot to the Norton Ghost CD, and then use Ghost to pull the image from the external USB HDD and write it to the new internal drive, that would be great,
Devin: but from what I'm beginning to suspect, that is not possible.
Devin: Is it?
- - -

It was at that point in the conversation that Norton Support called me on the telephone (listed on my support profile). It took a while to get an answer out of him (theoretically it is possible), but I'm still not entirely certain it will work. Considering I don't have the answer in writing, I'm not sure if it really is possible.

So, do any of my readers (all three of you) know if this will work? It seems that it should, but I really don't want to drop $50 on a "seems" situation.

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 00:38:09 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (7)

Category Show-n-Tell Thursday Technical Javascript SSJS

Javascript is an incredibly powerful language. Much of this power is derived from Javascript's incredible extensibility, and extremely loose (some would say nonexistent) data typing. Variables can be switched from strings to objects to simple types to ...well, whatever you want. Functions can be objects, objects can be functions, variables can be functions, etc. This can turn developers into Djinn, giving us phenomenal cosmic powers; without necessarily being bound to an itty-bitty living space.

All this power does come with a cost though, which is mostly measured in bottles of Excedrin. Sometimes doing things that seem very simple and safe on the surface lead us to forget the Cthuluean Terrors hiding in the darkness below.

Arrays are one of these things. They seem simple; but the potential nastiness they contain can drive you mad.

Rule 1: An array is an object as an enumerated list of variables.

Memorize that. All arrays are objects. All arrays are enumerated lists.... of variables. Variables can be anything (strings, numbers, objects, functions, arrays....).

Rule 2: Javascript Arrays are not Associative.

An Associative Array is a list of variables which is indexed by keys. These keys can be numbers, strings, or other objects. The critical difference here is that a Javascript array is enumerated by number, and an associative array is indexed by anything. Because Javascript is so extensible, and because all Javascript arrays are themselves objects, it is very easy to construct something that appears to be and associative array:

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Posted by Devin Olson At 13:46:17 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (3)

Category Politics Fun

From my inbox...

I recently asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?'

She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.' Her parents beamed.

'Wow...what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and rake my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'

I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.' Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

Posted by Devin Olson At 16:54:23 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (11)

Category Fun Travel Gossip

After four weeks on the road, I was ready to head home. Last Friday, after finishing up at my customer's site, I jumped into the rental car and began the long drive back to Canton. My flight out of ATL wasn't until Saturday, and Nathan had graciously offered his guest room to me for the evening. Sitting in the trunk of the car was a gift bottle of my favorite tequila. The drive was going to take 6 to 7 hours.

I won't boor you with the details of the drive; suffice to say that I arrived safe and sound at Nathan's. He really appreciated the gift (he knows his tequila). After relaxing and talking for a while, I was ready for bed.

Saturday morning was a beautiful day. After dropping off the rental car, we had breakfast at a tiny little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. I had a Chorizo and egg burro, with a couple bottles of Jarritos Lime. As we were leaving I noticed they also carried MEXICAN COKE (flavored with real cane sugar). Nathan noted my excitement, and bought me a bottle.

The drive back to Nathan's house, through the curving tree lined roads of Canton, riding shotgun in his convertible Miata, with the sun shining in my face and the wind blowing in my hair, all the while sipping my Coke, is a memory worth keeping. T hanks for your hospitality Nathan, it means a lot to me.

Yes, I know the title of this post is somewhat misleading. If you have a problem with that you need to relax. Might I suggest some tequila, or perhaps some Coke?

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 12:57:31 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (4)