STS-135 Ticket Lotteries

As we get closer to the ticket lotteries for STS-135 please take note of the following:

If you are selected for NASA Causeway tickets please buy the maximum number you can purchase. Rest assured you won’t be stuck with any extras but if we band together we have a better chance of seeing the launch from the Causeway with the orange tickets from KSCVC. Even if more than one of our little group gets those tickets I assure you we will be able to sell off the extras.

Remember though, we do have a safety net. If no one gets Causeway tickets we still have the private viewing location in Titusville to watch the launch from. This is a better location than the Astronaut Hall of Fame and the KSCVC itself so if you are selected for those tickets in the lottery I suggest you pass.

Another option once the lotteries are closed is to purchase Causeway tickets from a tour bus company. You will pay more for the ticket itself but you at least get on the Causeway. I only suggest buying those tickets if your pickup and drop off point is in Port Canaveral. Otherwise you spend 5-9 hours on a bus fighting the traffic back to Orlando. If you don’t want to spend the extra money on tour bus company tickets to the Causeway that’s fine, we still have our safety net in Titusville.

Register for Tickets Now

Registration is now open for STS-135 launch viewing tickets through KSC.  If you would like to join our merry group please click the link below to register for tickets.  If you are selected for the lottery please let me know and we can coordinate the ticket purchase.

Remember there are 3 types of tickets you can get from the lottery:

1. Causeway Tickets - these are the best tickets.
2. Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center Tickets - these are the next best as you are 7 miles away but won't see the launch until the shuttle clears the tree line.
3. Astronaut Hall of Fame - these are the worst as you are 12 miles away and won't see the launch until the shuttle clears the tree line.

If you are selected for Causeway tickets then please purchase the maximum number allowed.  Those who then can't view the launch from the Causeway can use my private spot in Titusville which is better then numbers 2 and 3 above.

Click this link to register.  You only have until June 5.  http://bit.ly/hvAARm

Good luck everyone in the lottery!

Comcast Decision

As you know, if you read this blog, I’ve had a decision to make in regards to the upcoming digital transition with Comcast. In our area it starts June 25 where all channels from Comcast will be digital. You can read the full story here.

After much research, we decided to give up our wonder TiVo’s and try Comcast’s DVRs. The one feature we are giving up that we think we will miss the most is the ability to transfer a program from one DVR to another. This has come in very handy but we think we will be able to work around that limitation most of the time thanks to the On-Demand service. If there is a show we want to watch that is on the other DVR we may be able to find it and watch it from On-Demand.

I went to the local Comcast office to pick up our new DVRs however; they only had the older model in stock. They ordered me the new model, which has a touchscreen front and 100 hours more storage. It should arrive sometime next week.

Once I get it setup and working, I’ll post some reviews. I’ve read that getting these newer units up and running can be a bit slow. Should be interesting.

How to See the Last Shuttle Launch STS-135

So you want to see a shuttle launch? Oh, wait. You want to see the last shuttle launch ever!? You must be crazy. Fortunately, I was blessed with a healthy dose of crazy and have attended the last 3 shuttle launches, STS 132, 133, and 134 so I might be able to provide some wisdom.

NASA is expecting a record crowd for the final launch. Upwards of 1 million people could cram the Space Coast and break the record set when Apollo 11 launched for the moon.

First, how much money you got? Launch viewing trips aren't cheap. Attending in groups can save money but you still have expenses like travel (flights, rental cars, gas), ground (hotel, food), and any costs associated with where you view the launch from.

Second, how flexible are you? NASA is very upfront that launching humans into space is risky business and there are many things that can go wrong. Only 1 of the last 3 launches has launched on schedule. Your flexibility also affects your cost. How long can you hang around for delays? I've always taken the approach that if I'm going to start something I'm going to finish it. I'm also fortunate to have a job I can do from anywhere I can get online. So I'm good with bouncing between hotels, McDonald's and Starbucks getting work done. For STS-133, I bounced around for a week in November before the launch was finally scrubbed until late February.

Third, where do you want to the launch from? There are many options:

1. The Press Site for Launch Complex 39 is the best spot but getting there requires press credentials or access via a NASA Tweetup event.  I was fortunate to be select to the NASA Tweetup for STS-132, which at the time was the final launch of Atlantis and this is by far the best place at 3 miles away.
2. Almost equal to the press site is the Apollo / Saturn V Center.  It is also 3 miles away facing a different side of the pad but the viewing there would be spectacular.  I have not seen a launch from this site as it is reserved for specific NASA VIP's and astronaut family members.
3. The best public viewing location is the NASA East Causeway.  Here you are 6 miles from the pad and have a mostly clear view over the water of the Banana River.  Some of the trees on the islands in the river may block a bit of your view of the pad but the shuttle isn't on the pad for long.  To get access here you have to be enter a ticket lottery with the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center and then if selected spend $76 per ticket.  Another way to get to the Causeway is to purchase tickets through Gray Line Tours or Florida Dolphin Tours.  They take you to the same place but cost a lot more.  My suggestion if you use a tour company is to select a pickup point in Melbourne, FL.  Otherwise, you will spend 5-9 hours on the bus after the launch in traffic going back to your drop off point in Orlando.  Here is another post I wrote how to get Causeway tickets and the differences between Green, Orange, and Purple.
4. You can also view a launch from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex itself.  You can't see the shuttle on the pad but you do see it a few seconds after liftoff.  They have big screen TV's around so you can see main engine start but you can't see anything until it clears the trees.  To get these tickets you also have to enter a lottery and they cost about $50 each.  You are 7 miles away at this location.
5. The Astronaut Hall of Fame provides another viewing option however, you are 12 miles away, and you still can't see the launch until it clears the tree line.  Tickets for this location are also only available through the ticket lottery and cost around $50 each.
6. Sometimes you can find private homes, condos or other property along the Indian River in Titusville that you can watch from.  These locations are between 12 and 14 miles away but many times you can see the shuttle stack sitting on the pad.  Don't trespass though if you don't have permissions from the property owners.  There are costs associated with these locations depending on condo rates and/or fees charged by the property owners.
7. There are many public viewing sites along the Indian River like Space View Park and Rotary Park.  There are also some bridges in Titusville that would make for great viewing locations but are very crowded.  If you are going to a public location to save money, make sure you get there early.  Otherwise, parking could be a big problem.  Everyone gets a good view once the shuttle gets off the ground, but if you want great pics then the earlier you get to your viewing location the better chance you will have better shots.

Of course, before you can see a launch you have to get to the launch site.  I have never viewed driving as an option as it would take 20 hours or so each way.  I value my time more than that so I have always flown.  Here are a few tips for dealing with the airlines and shuttle launches:

1. Determine your flexibility first.  If you have to come home on a certain day regardless of whether the launch happens or not then go ahead and purchase a round trip ticket so you can lock in the lowest possible fare.  If you do change your mind after purchasing your ticket, remember that all airlines except Southwest charge a change fee plus any difference in fare.  Southwest only charges you the difference in fare.
3. If you don't have miles but you have some flexibility then consider booking one-way tickets.  Then once you are ready to leave after the launch or after it has been rescheduled, find the cheapest flight from Orlando and book it.  You sometimes pay a bit more here but if it isn't more than the change fee plus any fare differences then you have come out ahead.  This has never happened to me but I would hate to be there for the launch only to have it rescheduled for the day I had to fly home. So close and yet so far.

For rental cars and hotels, I use Hotwire and Priceline.  If I'm traveling by myself, I get the cheapest car I can find.  If I'm with a group I get a car large enough for our needs but understanding we are splitting the costs. 

I also am not picky on hotels.  I don't book more than one night at a time and I use Hotwire and Priceline to find the best deals.  Since I don't care whether I'm in a Motel 6 or a Marriott I pretty much take whatever comes up.  This does mean you are in a different hotel every night but it also means you save a lot of money.  Titusville, FL has very few hotel rooms so getting a cheap one is difficult around the launch date but if the date changes you can often find great last minute deals much closer to KSC.

Despite the best planning, there are no guarantees.  The key thing is how committed are you?  How many days are you willing to invest and how much money are you willing to spend.  Be sure to figure that out first.  Even with the best planning things change and you may not see anything.

I am working on plans to take a group to a private viewing location in Titusville.  This spot really works out well and provides a great view.  The only downside is the sound is not nearly as impressive since you are 12 miles away but it is the best place after the press site and Causeway locations.  If you are serious about attending a launch and are willing to invest some money, feel free to contact me.

You might also want to go ahead and enter the ticket lotteries with KSCVC.  If you are committed to going then it doesn't matter if you go to a private viewing site or you get Causeway tickets.  The number of tickets each person is limited to is 6.  If multiple people can get 6 Causeway tickets in the lottery then there is a better chance more folks going can see the launch closer.  The only downside is you would need to front the initial ticket purchase as you only have so many hours after being selected for tickets to make a purchase before your buying opportunity expires.  If you get stuck with too many tickets there is always eBay.

These trips unravel quickly if many people express interest only to back out after being pressed to commit both time and money.  Make those commitments now to make every one's planning a bit easier.

Here's to a successful final launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS 135!  Wait, I've heard that before at STS 132.

An Endeavor, Day 8, May 18, 2011

Unfortunately, every shuttle launch viewing trip has to come to an end. Even though it was over this one was special. We got to see a very unique launch with the shadow on the clouds, we got to walk to the north barrier, and we had beautiful weather for viewing the SRB recovery ships returning to port. Plus I was able to bring my dad along to share in the fun.

We had different flights home as dad and Twitterless Ted had already booked their return flights while I waited to see if the launch happened or not. I was prepared to hang around again until it went up. I’m so glad it happened on schedule otherwise we would have spent the time waiting around instead of checking things out.

My flight left at 7:30am and this is where we parted company. The two old men were heading home to have brunch and take naps. What a life. I on the other hand landed in Indy at 11:30am, was picked up by Joe and Donnie (I knew they would work themselves into this story somehow), and then attended a VMware Users Group Meeting at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The weather didn’t allow them to run any cars while we were there but I wasn’t complaining considering all I had seen over the last few days. The only thing I did complain about was the weather. I left sunny and 85 for raining and 56.

All the planning had paid off and it’s still hard to believe the trip is over. We have now started making plans for STS-135, the final launch of the Space Shuttle program and the final launch of humans into space by the United States for the foreseeable future. This is the end of a 30-year era. I’m even toying with taking our 6 year old along, as I know he would really enjoy it. Justin and I are also talking about taking a trip to Russia to see a Soyuz launch as after STS-135 that will be the only place you can see a NASA astronaut launched into space.

The feedback I’ve received online from the STS-134 trip has been incredible so I’ll do what I can to post options and tips so others can share in the best launch viewing experience possible for STS-135.

An Endeavor, Day 7, May 17, 2011

Day 7 started a good 12 hours after Day 6 ended. Exhaustion is all part of a shuttle launch trip experience but we all felt much better having gotten a good night sleep after a very crazy Sunday and Monday.

One of the many blessings of an on-time launch is the extra time you have to explore the Space Coast a bit without trying to see the next launch attempt. Unfortunately, Justin had to head home so we hung around Orlando for a bit and then took him to the airport. I took the crew to the B-52 Park I stumbled upon during my last trip, we grabbed lunch, and then we dropped off Justin. As you read the rest of this, it is important to note that Justin missed a lot.

We left the airport in Orlando to head for the Canaveral National Seashore. We had read there were some great spots for viewing Pads 39 A & B plus Pad 41 so we wanted to check them out. We also knew that you could walk the beach to the north security barrier of KSC and get some even closer views of the 2 iconic launch pads. My GPS was having a hard time routing us there, as most of the roads in the area are restricted so I looked it up on Google. Turns out that beach happens to be a popular spot with those who prefer to bath in the buff. While nude sunbathing is illegal in Brevard County there is some dispute over whether those laws apply on federal land. Now things were going to be interesting.

When we got to the guard shack, I asked the guard about the nudist population in the area. He told me to put my camera away as if we saw anything it was only going to be some beached whales with tattoos. We headed into the park and stopped at the various lookout points towards the launch pads. I have been to both pads but this was just as much fun as it required no security, no background checks, and I could stay as long as I wanted.

We arrived at the beach and prepared for the 1-mile walk down to the barrier. The tide had just gone out so it was an easy walk. When we got to the barrier, the guards let us walk up the ramp to their guardhouse so we could get some better pictures. We hung out for a bit and then headed back. It was a beautiful day as the sea was calm the breeze was cooling, and there were no nude people on the beach.

In case you’re wondering, you can’t watch a launch from the beach. The entire area is closed 3 days prior to launch and if you did somehow manage to hide out the shockwave from the launch would probably kill you or at least mess you up pretty bad.

We left the Canaveral National Seashore and headed towards Port Canaveral. We had found out on Twitter and through a reporter friend of Twitterless Ted that the SRB (Solid Rocket Boosters) were coming back into Port Canaveral that night. This is something I have always wanted to see but their arrival varies almost as much as a launch date due to many factors so I had not been able to see this on my other trips to Florida.

We arrived at Jetty Park in time to see the first recovery ship entering the channel. The view was great as we watched the first ship come in and then 45 minutes later watched the second ship come in as the sun was setting. We got a lot of pictures and video and then left the park to see if we could find another spot that would allow us to take pictures of the ships and SRBs docked for the night. They were going to continue through the locks on their way back to KSC the next morning. After a bit of driving around we found a great spot to get some shots of the ships and SRBs in their slips. Playing with some settings on my camera, I got some pretty good pictures, in my own humble and unbiased opinion.

By this time, it was close to 9pm and we had to be at the airport at 6am the next morning for our flights home. So we left Port Canaveral and headed back to Orlando to prepare for the trip home.

An Endeavor, Day 6, May 16, 2011

This day began a short 3 hours after the last day ended. I was hoping for a few more hours of sleep but after some discussion agreed, we should leave at 3am to avoid any traffic issues. We grabbed our sack breakfasts, drove across the street to pick up Justin Moore, a church IT friend from northern Indiana, and headed for our Indian River viewing location.

Part of the traffic discussion was my contention that there wouldn't be any and we could sleep a bit longer. Of course, I was right and there was no traffic but I am glad we arrived when we did as we got a great spot right on the banks of the Indian River with a clear view of pad 39A and the VAB.

The view was awesome! The pad illuminated in the Xenon lights, the clear night sky, and a beautiful sunrise with the planets Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Mars clearly in view. We even got to see the helicopter that escorts the AstroVan as it flew with them to the pad. All the while, we were watching NASA TV on or iPads.

Over the next several hours, we watched the sunrise, the Shuttle Training Aircraft testing the weather doing touch and go landings, and even an inflight refueling of 2 Blackhawks helicopters. The clouds would come and the clouds would go, almost as though they were toying with the launch commit criteria and us. 

About 30 minutes to launch the sky was clear and we thought we were going to see the entire ascent. However, as we got closer to launch time the clouds again moved in and were within 500 feet from violating the criteria needed to remain go for launch. The clouds stayed above 5500 feet and at 8:56am, Space Shuttle Endeavor launched on STS 134. 

After 20 seconds, the shuttle slipped through the clouds and was out of sight. About 75 seconds after launch, the sound wave hit and we were able to hear the shuttle even though we could not see it.

At first, I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see the entire ascent but these clouds did have a silver lining. The thin cloud cover combined with the position of the sun cast a shadow across the top of the clouds of the con trail as the shuttle ascended. This provided a unique once-in-a-lifetime view of the shuttle launch appearing as a shadow growing across the clouds. This shadow more than made up for the fact that we didn’t see more than 20 seconds of the launch. And we weren’t the only ones who didn’t see the full launch, those at the Press Site and Causeway also only saw about 20 seconds.  

As the shadow dissipated, we began to pack up our stuff and head out for the rest of our day. It took us about 30 minutes to reach a McDonald’s 2 miles away so we could grab some breakfast and caffeine. Then we headed to KSCVC where we met up with a friend from the STS 132 launch and toured the Apollo / Saturn V Center, watched the IMAX movies, rode the Space Shuttle Launch Experience, walked around the Rocket Garden, and shopped a bit in the Space Store.

Even though we were pretty wiped out when the Visitor’s Center closed at 6pm we still had enough energy left for dinner at the best seafood restaurant in Titusville, Dixie Crossroads.

After dinner, we headed back to Orlando and some much needed sleep. 

An Endeavor, Day 5, May 15, 2011

At long last our second attempt to see STS 134 arrived. Of course the day arrived on our 12th wedding anniversary but NASA did not take that into consideration when picking the new launch date. I should take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my wife as this is the second year in a row I have been gone on our wedding anniversary for a shuttle launch. Last year I was at the NASA Tweetup for STS 132.

The day started with a full set of ministry at Faith including an unscripted moment where I had a fake cigarette on stage. Sometimes you just never know what is going to happen.

My dad, our friend Ted and I left shortly thereafter to head for the airport in Indy and begin our trip.

Compared to my last trip this trip was wonderfully uneventful. We left IND on time and arrived early into Ft. Myers. We flew to RSW as it was significantly cheaper than flying into Orlando. The rental car pickup was smooth and we were quickly on our way to a hotel near the Orlando airport.

We made excellent time as Sunday evening traffic was very light. I would say bringing my dad and Ted was a good luck charm but let's wait and see when and if we launch. As we all know getting there is only half the battle.

We checked into the hotel for 3 hours of sleep.

Comcast is Killing Me

I’m a big fan of technology improving our lives however, it seems I may be in the minority with that opinion.

Comcast is the largest providers of cable TV, voice, and data services in the country. One would think a company of that size would have the latest and greatest to offer their customers. Due to the recent digital TV transition, I’m finding that not to be the case. The issue is not the digital TV transition. I’m all for that. The problem stems from their application of this new digital technology.

Up until now, I have received my basic cable channels (over-the-air networks, public access, etc.) in an analog format and then our additional premium channels (Food Network, History, NatGeo, Discovery, etc.) in a digital format. For DVR’s we use 2 Series 2 analog TiVo’s. This has worked well, even though we have a digital cable box and a TiVo we are able to record multiple channels at a time and we are able to transfer programs between TiVo’s so regardless of which TiVo records the show we can watch it anywhere. The only limitation is with the digital channels as we are limited to a single digital tuner per TiVo but since some of our channels are analog, this hasn’t been an issue. We also have full access to Comcast’s On-Demand system.

Starting June 25 all our channels will be digital, which makes our analog TiVo’s a bit of a problem. I contacted Comcast to see what our options are and was sorely disappointed. Here are the details in case this will help anyone else deal with the Comcast machine.

1. I could purchase new digital TiVo’s. This would allow me to keep the same TiVo software and functionality we like, provide us with dual digital tuners per DVR, and allow us to continue sharing programs regardless of where they were recorded. The downside here is we would lose On-Demand and would have to pay for the TiVo’s upfront. We would also have to rent Cablecards from Comcast in order to access the digital channels via the TiVo’s. 
2. We could get Comcast DVR’s. This would cost us more per month as we have to rent the DVR’s and we would lose our wonder TiVo software. We would gain dual tuner DVR’s and full access to On-Demand but we would lose the ability to transfer shows between rooms. So if we records The Office in the basement but we want to watch it in the bedroom we wouldn’t be able to do that anymore. When I discussed with the Comcast Executive Office the guy I talked to has 4 DVR’s and said he would really like this feature but Comcast has no plans to offer it. Comcast uses Motorola DVR’s and according to their website the DVR’s are capable of doing this but for some absurd reason Comcast disables this function.
3. Comcast offers an Anyroom DVR system that allows you to record shows in one room and watch them in another, sort of. This system, costing about the same as a couple of normal DVR’s, provides you with a hub unit that you records all your shows on and then station units that allow you to watch what has been recorded on the hub unit. While this might seem like a solution, it does have a few problems. First, you only get access to On-Demand on the hub unit and not any of the stations. Second, you only have DVR capabilities on the hub unit, you can’t pause live TV on the remote stations.

Since none of these options provides what we want I contact Comcast via Twitter and was put in touch with their Executive Offices. That proved a dead end as they told me the same thing I already knew, these are the choices and we can’t do anything about it. Again, it baffles me that a company the size of Comcast can’t do any better than this.

My options are to pick one of the 3 choices above and get happy with what I’m giving up or leave Comcast and go to a satellite TV provider. If for whatever reason you have read this far what do you think? What are your experiences with Comcast? Am I the only one that thinks being able to watch a program on any DVR regardless of where you recorded it is a big deal? TiVo makes it easy by sharing between DVR’s on your home network. Why Comcast disables this is beyond me.

The clock is ticking, we have to do something by June 25th and right now, I’m not sure what that will be.

Stop Cramming HTTPS Down My Throat!

I’m all for secure web browsing but before you nag me to switch to it on Twitter and Facebook why don’t you make sure it works properly. After a bit of research here’s what I know about using HTTPS for Twitter and Facebook. Both websites let you pick HTTPS as an option however, both are far from perfect in terms of what you give up in the name of security. Almost sounds like the fight against terrorism.

If you opt for HTTPS here are a few issues:

Twitter

1. HTTPS requires you to login every time you access Twitter after closing your web browser. This issue takes a while to pop up as cookies expire but once it starts, you can’t stop it. Anytime you load the Twitter website you have to login. If you leave your browser open and you use a sharing link on another website then it will log you in fine but if you close your browser, you will have to login again. This can be a real pain if you use the Tweet link on other websites, as you will have to login each time.
2. Not all Twitter clients use HTTPS anyway so while your computer browser will use that protocol other apps on your computer or smartphone might not so you are only securing one point of entry.
3. The Twitter mobile website requires you to manually enter HTTPS in order to access it from a mobile phone. While the HTTPS setting allows you to default from HTTP to HTTPS that only works on a computer browser, it does not work on a mobile browser.

Facebook

1. The same deal is true here. HTTPS does not allow you to save credentials past a cookie expiration so after a while you will have to login to Facebook each time you access the site or use a sharing link from another site.  
2. Same deal here too, not all Facebook clients use HTTPS so you are only security one point of access.
3. I’m not sure about the mobile site, as I didn’t test this.
4. There are several features that don’t work when using HTTP:
• Videos do not play.
• Some pictures will not appear.
• You can’t use the new picture uploader that allows you to upload an unlimited number of pictures at a time. Instead, you have to use the old updated that only allows you to upload 5 pictures at a time after you browse to individually select each one.
• It won’t print coupons or event tickets.

Again, I’m all for a more secure browsing experience but I’m not willing to give up the experience itself in favor of security. That defeats the purpose. Am I worried about people snooping on my password while I’m at Starbucks and Panera? A little. I figure my iPhone’s connection with these websites is much more of a vulnerability as it is on all the time whereas my laptop connection is only when I launch the apps or browse to the websites.

If these websites want me and everyone else to use HTTPS because it is a more secure connection that will cut down on identity theft, SPAM, etc. then they have to make sure the only difference is HTTPS and not HTTPS that lacks many features of HTTP. Until then, I’m going back to HTTP so I can better enjoy the experience and use these sites to their fullest capability.

An Endeavor, May 9, 2011

Today NASA announced next launch attempt of STS-134 will be Monday, May 16 at 8:56am. I started planning and am grateful I can return for this launch attempt, even if it will mean a bit of extra travel. Flying to Orlando or anywhere on the east coast of Florida was a bit pricey. So, our group will be flying into Ft. Myers. Group you say? Yes. I’m excited that I’ll be taking my dad with me this time as he has never seen a shuttle launch.

Our group is flying to Ft. Myers and then will be leaving from Orlando after the launch.

Here’s hoping for a successful launch on Monday, May 16!

Medal of Honor

Friday was one of those days at work that makes me grateful I serve at Faith. I enjoy variety and Faith provides a lot of variety in ministry. Friday we were honored to host the Medal of Honor Bridge Dedication Ceremony. There was a lot about this I didn’t understand as we were planning for this event. I did know that a UH-1 Huey helicopter was going to be landing in our parking lot with the Medal of Honor recipients and figured I would want to see that. It turned out to be so much more than just a helicopter landing.

What is the Medal of Honor? According to the internet, “The Medal of Honor was established in 1862 and first presented in 1863 during the Civil War. It is the highest military decoration that the United States grants to members of its armed forces for bravery in action at the risk of his or her life, above and beyond the call of duty. It is awarded by the president in the name of Congress. The Army, Navy, and Air Force each have their own designs for the Medal of Honor. Included with the Navy are the Marine Corps and Coast Guard.”

3,475 Medal of Honor awards have been issued and only 85 recipients are alive today. 7 of them were at Faith on Friday, May 6, 2011. Now I was beginning to see the significance of the event.

Aside from the helicopter flying in the Lafayette Fire Department setup a huge American Flag, the Department of Homeland Security provided security sweeps and protection for the guests; there were soldiers, policeman and fireman in uniform all over, schoolchildren, almost all of our elected state and local officials, and a veteran’s motorcycle parade. Saying that flags were everywhere would be an understatement.

All of this to dedicate the first and only bridge in the United States to all Medal of Honor recipients. Most Medal of Honor recipients receive their awards posthumously. Having 7 of them, including the last surviving recipient from WWII dedicate this bridge was impressive. The bridge is north of Lafayette on a new stretch of road called the Hoosier Heartland Corridor. It almost seems as though we didn’t do enough once you hear these guys’ stories.

There aren’t many days you go to work and a helicopter lands in your parking lot, 10% of the surviving Medal of Honor recipients come to visit, and you have a small part in helping make a bit of history.

More information about the Medal of Honor can be found here:
Congressional Medal of Honor Society
Wikipedia entry for Medal of Honor
Local newspaper coverage of the event

Oh Canada

This is a long shot but what do I have to lose? On Friday, I met two guys from Canada at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center for the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor on STS-134. I needed a place to sit and eat lunch and they agreed to share their table with me. We were chatting about the launch scrub when a girl walked by selling two purple launch viewing tickets. Purple tickets are not available for purchase and can only be acquired by knowing a member of the shuttle crew. She told us the astronaut her family knew and said they couldn’t stay for the launch and wanted to sell the tickets.

My new friends were not sure so I explained to them what the purple tickets were and that they would get to view the launch from the causeway VIP section as guests of the crew. The girl wanted $100 per ticket but she would not split them up. They were going to purchase them but I cautioned them not to buy the tickets unless she had a car pass. She did so they purchased the two purple tickets and the car pass.

They got a great deal and soon after had to leave to catch their bus back to the hotel. We did not exchange information but I know they had to leave Monday so I’m not sure if they were going to be able to use the tickets or not. 

I’m hoping the right people will stumble on this via Google indexing and be able to put me in touch with these guys. They were staying at the Double Tree, used Gray Line Tours for their tickets and one was from Alberta and the other from Ontario. If you know these guys please have them contact me using any of the methods on this blog. I think I have a good use for their tickets if they can’t use them. If they can use them then I hope to meet up with them again.

Common internet, work your magic. Thank you very much.

May 1 is a Deadly Day

What a day this has been.  Not 10 minutes after I posted Day 4 of my recent trip to see the attempted launch of STS-134 I noticed Twitter lighting up with posts about Osama Bin Laden being killed.  I flipped the TV to CNN and sure enough, we got him!

Watching Twitter was much more informative and entertaining than watching any of the news networks.  One of the facts that came across was that Hitler was also captured, having already killed himself, on May 1, 1945.

Twitter provided many comments on welcoming Osama to the eternal hot place, how we found him due to the iPhone tracking db, how his hacked PlayStation account led us to him, and how this event brings closure to many who lost loved ones on 9/11.

I'm glad we got him but in many ways this is the beginning and not the end.  Terrorism will continue and we will still have to be vigilant against it.

We owe a huge debt to those in our armed forces who carried out not only this mission but dangerous missions every day as they protect us.

An Endeavor, Day 4, May 1, 2011

Today was a day that was never supposed to happen. In the ideal world, we would have launched Friday and this story would have ended Saturday with me back home giving the kids their space presents.

This is my third launch viewing attempt and only one of the three has gone according to plan. The launch of Atlantis on STS-132 while I was at the NASA Tweetup went as scheduled. The other 2 have had major delays. These are the consequences for not inviting me back to the subsequent Tweetup events. That or human space flight is risky business and this is just how it goes.

The day started with me watching the various news feeds to see what was going to happen. There was a press conference scheduled for 10:30am but I was hoping to find out more sooner so I could make plans to get home. By 9:30am it was clear they were not launching on Monday so I put a flight on hold to head home Sunday afternoon. 

By 9:4am the story changed again. The 10:30am press conference had been shifted to early afternoon and they were not going to announce another no-earlier-than launch attempt date until tomorrow. I knew I could go home as the likely hood of a launch anytime this week was slim.

I grabbed the last seat on an AirTran non-stop flight to IND and packed up to head back to the airport. One of the many gambles on a shuttle launch trip are the ground costs and as you know Thrifty car rental has been a bit screwy. I got a great rate; I paid $8.96 a day to drive a Premium car. The catch is that if you return it early they charge you a $15 fee. They don’t charge you for the days you don’t use but they do charge you a stupid $15 early return fee. While I still saved a ton of money I did return my rental car early and paid the fee. All part of the risky business of attempting to view humans launching into space on rockets.

Getting home was a milestone of sorts as it was my last flight on AirTran. Our captain welcomed us to Indianapolis, told us the current temperature was 20 degrees, Celsius, and then said he would normally invite us back on another AirTran flight however starting tomorrow AirTran becomes Southwest. AirTran has always been good to me.

I’ll be watching the news from Kennedy Space Center closely and we’ll see how things turn out.

To be continued, I’m sure……..

An Endeavor, Day 3, April 30, 2011

12 hours later, I woke up. The hotel graciously provided me a late checkout so I cleaned up, repacked, and caught up on some work. I also had time to figure out my next move. 

After a bit of research I decided to check out and hang in Orlando until an announcement was made about Monday’s attempt. Some insider information told me that they were going to take the APU apart today and would know in the afternoon or early evening if they were going to be able to fix the problem by swapping out some parts or if it was going to require them to replace more. If I found out by 6pm they were not going to make Monday’s launch attempt I could catch a flight home tonight. If I found out they were going to try to Monday then I would stay. I also have a friend who wants to join me should they try for Monday.

I checked out and went to a Panera Bread nearby to grab lunch, enjoy their free Wi-Fi, and wait.

4 hours and a lot of work done later, the data I was getting presented enough evidence for me to stay one additional day. Tomorrow at 10:30am they will have a press conference and should know if they can attempt Monday or not. The gamble is staying and they don’t launch in which case I’m only out for one more night’s hotel vs. going home tonight only to find out that they are going to launch on Monday. Trying to get back down here would be more hassle than staying and going home tomorrow if they can’t launch on Monday. Remember the fun I had getting here in the first place?

This of course doesn’t come without problems. Getting another hotel for tonight was no problem but extending my rental car proved a hassle. Thrifty was more than willing to allow me to keep the same car at the same rate however they charge a $10.99 fee per additional day when you make a change. It was cheaper to go online and place the same reservation again for the added days. All I had to do was go to the airport and swap my car for another one. I don’t see how they make money doing it this way but I played their game and went to the airport just to swap cars. I ended up going from a Ford Crown Victoria to a Mercury Grand Marquis with a cheaper daily rate. I wonder how these people make any money.

I grabbed dinner and checked into another hotel for one more night. I hope that tomorrow morning will bring good news. If not I’m homeward bound.

An Endeavor, Day 2, April 29, 2011

Day 2 officially started 2 hours after Day 1 ended. I slept, or tried to sleep for about 2 hours. I got up, showered, and then left for Port Canaveral so I could take the bus at KSCVC. 

I met the bus and enjoyed a brief nap on the 30-minute ride to Kennedy. We arrived at Kennedy at 6am. The launch wasn’t scheduled until 3:47pm so I had a lot of time to kill. After taking advantage of the empty gift shop, I decided to take the tour bus to the Apollo / Saturn V Center. It is always good to drive by the VAB, Press Site, OPF, and Landing Facility on the way there. I also enjoy the movies and attractions of the Saturn V Center including the massive Saturn V rocket itself that they have on display. 

Once there I sat down to breakfast and this lady sat down beside me and started having a conversation with me. I hate it when folks do that but in this case I went along with it as I had a lot of time to kill. As our conversation progressed, she mentioned Purdue and the John Purdue Club. The short story is she and her husband live in West Lafayette and have visited Faith, where I work. 

I spent the next 3 hours with them killing time at the Saturn V Center until it closed and they kicked us all out. The Saturn V Center is on the Banana River and on launch days they clear out the riff raft like me and only allow VIP’s, Congressional groups, and astronaut families in to view the launch from this location. Perhaps someday I’ll see a launch from there but not this time. We parted company as we got on different busses for the Visitor’s Center.

Once I got back to the Visitor’s Center, I still had 5 more hours to kill. I went to the IMAX movie but ended up sleeping through most of it. After the movie, I sat down next to a power outlet and while getting some more juice in my iPhone I received the tweet that the launch had been scrubbed. I still had to wait until 5pm to catch my bus so I decided to get something to eat. By this time, it was getting pretty crowded so I found some food (a massive turkey leg) and asked to share a table with 2 gentlemen. They agreed and so I sat down and found out that they were from Canada.

They had not been to a launch before and had many questions. As we were talking, this girl walks by with 2 purple tickets. Purple tickets are for causeway viewing but can only be gotten if you know a member of the crew. She was friends with one of the astronauts but her family couldn’t wait for the next attempt so she was selling 2 purple tickets for $100 each. My new Canadian friends asked me if this was a good deal and I told them to do it if she also had a car pass for the KSCVC. She went back and checked with her mom and sure enough, they had a car pass. So my Canadian friends got a great deal on a huge upgrade from the KSCVC to the purple section of the causeway. A great upgrade for them. Meanwhile I’m still watching from KSCVC unless I can come up with something else.

Shortly after this they had to leave to catch their bus. Now that the launch attempt has been moved to Monday I’m not sure if they are sticking around or not. I wish I would have gotten their phone number at least so I could check. If you are Canadian, are reading this, and know a guy from Alberta who was at the launch attempt please have him contact me. I think I have found a use for his purple tickets.

I killed the rest of the day and then took the bus back to Port Canaveral. On the bus ride I used Hotwire to again get a cheap hotel for last night. I got a decent deal and even upgraded to a 2.5 star since I had a credit from the issues with the previous night’s hotel.

The hotel I ended up at was an EconoLodge and it was by no means 2.5 stars. It wasn’t even 1 star. It probably has the higher rating due to its location on International Drive but it was not a nice place. The first room they gave me was a smoking room. I went back and they got me a non-smoking room however, it had a note from the maid saying she was sorry the bed was wet. I also couldn’t get the window to lock and since the hotel had exterior entrances having a window that doesn’t look isn’t a good thing. Not wanting stay there anyway I contact Hotwire and they were wonderful to work with, as I’m an Express member with them. They cancelled my reservation and rebooked me at a much better hotel 10 minutes away. 

I arrived at the Hampton Inn; grabbed some McDonald’s and went to bed. At this point I had been going 51 hours on 7 hours sleep. Needless to say, I slept well.

An Endeavor, Day 1, April 28, 2011

Since attending the NASA Tweetup event for the launch of Atlantis on STS-132 last May I have made it my new obsession to see the remaining shuttle launches as punishment for waiting until the end of the program before getting excited about humans riding rockets into space.

Back in November I came down to see Discovery launch on STS-133 and finally did see her launch in late February. This launch attempt is also turning out to be a bit more exciting than I’d like and this time I’ve decided to share the gory details with those of you brave and bored enough to read them.

This trip started Wednesday night, April 27 when I made contact with a guy in Orlando who had tickets to watch the launch from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center, which he was practically giving away. These are not ideal tickets in my mind as they are through a tour operator and require you to ride a bus to KSCVC and because you can’t actually see the launch until the stack clears the pad BUT it is better than nothing so Wednesday night I started working on the travel details.

I was surprised at how quickly and easily everything fell into place for me to fly to Orlando on Thursday so I could pick up the tickets and then be at Port Canaveral to catch the bus at 5:30am Friday morning. I got 5 hours sleep Wednesday night by the time I got packed and took care of some work things. This comes into play later.

Things went south, except for me, when I arrived at the Indy airport Thursday around noon. I was supposed to fly through La Guardia on my way to Orlando but everything was delayed due to the severe storms and deadly tornadoes that had hit the south the day before. Even if I could get to LGA, it wasn’t certain that I could many a connection to MCO. I must have been booked and on standby on 4 or 5 different flights before at the last minute, I found a flight through Memphis that would get me to Orlando at 10:20pm. As long as I could be in Port Canaveral by 5:30am, it didn’t really matter to me when the flight arrived.

I arrived in Memphis only to find my flight to Orlando delayed an hour. That gave me some time to enjoy some Memphis BBQ before the flight departed. While in the air, however we ran into a large storm cell so that added 20 minutes to our flight so we didn’t land in Orlando until after midnight.

The only thing that did go right was my rental car. I did the Wild Card option on Thrifty.com and ended up with a Crown Victoria to drive around for the cost of a compact. The bad thing was it took 45 minutes of waiting in line before I got the car.

I left the airport, picked up my ticket at a hotel near to mine and then headed to my hotel for a 2-hour nap. I arrived at the hotel only to find that Hotwire had not given them my reservation. This didn’t take long to fix and the great folks at Hotwire paid for half my room to compensate me for the trouble. 

Those were the shortest 2 hours of sleep ever.

NASA Causeway Tickets, what you need to know

Last week I had the opportunity to watch the final launch of space shuttle Discovery on STS-133. Since my attendance at the NASA Tweetup for STS-132, I’m determined to see all the remaining shuttle launches. I originally had tickets to watch from the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center but as the launch date continued to slip, I realized I’d be in Florida with Donnie for a Church IT Round Table event on the rescheduled launch date.

Since we were going to be in Florida together, I got online to see if I could find tickets for us both to attend the launch either at the Visitors Center or maybe even get an upgrade to the NASA Causeway. My online efforts paid off and I found a pair of Causeway tickets from a space fan in Europe who was unable to attend due to the numerous changes in the launch date.

It is a given that regardless of the color of your Launch Transportation Ticket each person must also have a blue KSCVC admission ticket.

He was offering two green Launch Transportation Tickets. Since I already had a car pass, I was trying to find LTT as those tickets get you from the KSCVC to the Causeway. I did some research online and concluded that all we needed were the green Launch Transportation Tickets and we would be fine. It didn’t matter if they were from a tour operator or from Kennedy.

We arrived at the KSCVC on launch day to find out a different story. Turns out there are three types of Launch Transport Tickets, orange, purple, and green. Here is what you need to know. The green LTT’s are for tour operator use only. Those tickets provide you transportation from the Visitors Center but they do not provide you transportation back to KSCVC. This was a problem for us as my car was at the Visitors Center.

The tour operator explained to us that NASA security does not allow the tour operators to return to the Visitors Center from the Causeway after launch. All tour operators are required to leave the Causeway after launch and head back to their origination points. They are not able, for security reasons, to return to the KSCVC. This one little fact is not communicated well by the tour operators. Rather they just tell you that if you buy their tickets you have to use their transportation in what appears as a way to force you to spend more money with them. The reality is that they are enforcing NASA regulations that the tour operators are escorted from the Causeway off NASA property following the launch so if you don’t take their transportation you will be stranded with NASA security.

The orange and purple LTT’s provide transportation to and from the KSCVC. These are tickets issued by the Visitors Center and provide you a seat on the NASA busses to and from the Causeway. The Causeway is restricted government property. The security regulations require that everyone have a seat on a bus to and from the Causeway for launch, so NASA issues the number of tickets they have for bus seats to the Causeway and the tour operators do the same. The difference is NASA will return you to the Visitors Center while the tour operators who issue the green tickets are escorted off the space center to begin their trip back to their origination points.

We learned this the hard way. We showed up at the KSCVC ready to board a tour operator bus since we had green tickets only to find out the tour bus was going to take us to Melbourne after the launch and not back to KSCVC where my car was. This was a problem. Fortunately, the tour operator understood our predicament, put is in contact with someone with the KSCVC who graciously provided us with orange LTT’s so we could get back to the Visitors Center after the launch and pick up our car.

The moral of the story:

1. Green LTT’s only work if used with the tour operators which is required by NASA security. The tour operators are not trying to rip you off in this regard. The tour operators drop you off at the Visitors Center, take you to the Causeway from the KSCVC, and then return you to their pick up locations. They are not permitted to return to KSCVC.
2. Orange and Purple LTT’s work with car passes from the KSCVC. These tickets provide you transportation to and from the Causeway from the Visitors Center on NASA busses. You cannot combine orange and purple Launch Transportation Tickets with green ones.
3. The KSCVC staff are wonderful folks who were great to work with us to sort out our confusion. Based on their reaction this has probably happened before.

Hopefully this will help someone else from ending up in the same situation we were in.

Not only is the launching of humans into space complicated business the viewing of the launching of humans into space can be just as complicated.

An Open Letter to Legislators

I’m having a hard time understanding legislators leaving a state to avoid debating and voting on important issues. Regardless of what side of the aisle you are from it seems to me that leaving for any reason is circumventing the democratic process which elected you and to which you are called to serve.

I’m sure there are issues here that I don’t understand but my understanding of the democratic process in our republic is that the majority rules. In the Indiana House right now there are 60 members of one party and 40 members of another. That provides a majority but not enough to form the 2/3 attendance required to vote on issues.

Abandoning your post because you are in the minority and not getting your way is using a cheap legislative tactic to enforce the will of the minority onto the will of the majority. In the elections in November our state elected a majority. If you lose your agenda and desires due to that majority then I would think you would have a fairly clear platform on which to run during the next election.

Since you have opted to leave I hope the voters in our state will remember that during the next election. Leaving because you are not getting your way is childish in any situation regardless of the reason. I know if I was going to run for office your actions would give me a clear platform.

Please return to work. While you tout that you are not taking pay while you are gone that isn’t admirable it is pathetic. Accept that you may lose and move on but don’t hold the majority of a state hostage trying to reverse the Madisonian Dilemma.

A Communistic Approach to Technology

This post is to explain one of my warped views of the world that will probably get me in trouble. I have long believed that a communistic approach to technology development would be far superior to our current capitalistic model. Here’s what I mean.

Capitalism bases advancement on profits. Capitalists will use an inferior technology so long as it makes money and won’t advance to the next level of technology until they have made all the money they can on the current level. Granted competition is supposed to spur this development but as you can see by the current state of technology that doesn’t always work. If it did, Microsoft would not have released a new smartphone lacking copy and paste, as an example.

Communism was a failure as a form of government because people were involved but in principle it seems rather sound. The best for all. Greed often gets in the way and power hungry people mess this up but communism isn’t worried about making profit. Instead, they want, in principle, the best for everyone. As such we would not have iOS vs. Android, we would have the best of both worlds in the one and only smartphone OS. Instead of Verizon using CDMA and AT&T using GSM we would have one provider that was both the largest and the fastest using the latest communication protocol regardless of profitability.

Now lest you think I’m a turncoat or a pinko I’m not endorsing communism as a way of life but the core principle, without the perversion of humanity, seems to me to be a superior methodology for developing technology and technology services. Instead of competitive overhead, you would have AMD and Intel sharing ideas to provide the best for all, not just the best for one firm so they can make a pile of cash.

I don’t see Microsoft and Apple getting together anytime soon to being their new approach to business based on my blog post but I do believe that such an approach would benefit us all. Need I remind you of the VHS vs. Betamax story and how the consumer got the short end of the stick as capitalistic forces pushed us down the VHS road despite it being inferior? Blue Ray anyone?

If anyone from any major technology companies would like to discuss these radical ideas to better technology in our generation, please feel free to contact me.

OneNote comes to the iPhone

One of the cool things about technology is when it makes our life easy. More often than not, numerous things seem to make technology more of a hurdle then a helpful time saver. I have often proposed a communistic approach to technology to ensure the best for everyone as opposed to needless competition based solely on profit goals that slow down development but that is another discussion for another blog post.

Today however, the stars aligned and things really started to gel. As you know last year, I took the plunge and joined the dark side in getting an iPhone. While the iPhone provides numerous integration and data synchronization tools to help keep my life in order one thing that is obviously missing are Microsoft Office tools. One tool I use all the time is OneNote. OneNote automatically stores its files in the cloud using Windows Live SkyDrive allowing it to automatically update from wherever I open it. It is very productive when you can open OneNote in the office and make some changes and then open the same program at home and see those changes and then make more knowing the next day they will automatically show up at the office. This is why God made the cloud.

I have searched many times looking for OneNote on the iPhone and today it appeared. Microsoft has released OneNote for the iPhone that functions just like the desktop client. It opens the files from the cloud allowing you to make notes and update notes via the iPhone.

It is free for the time being in the App store however, I can see Microsoft starting to charge for this soon enough. If you use OneNote, this is a must-have app. I also hope this shows Microsoft’s commitment to bringing the power and benefits of the Office desktop suite of clients to more mobile platforms like the iPhone.

Disclaimers:

1. Sorry Android users, nothing for you yet. 
2. There is a bug when you login to your Windows Live account. You may get a 400 error. That’s ok, just keep trying and you will eventually get logged in. Once logged in it works great. They are working on the bug but it is easy to overcome.

SonicWall Firmware Alert!

We use a SonicWall NSA E-Series appliance as our primary firewall. Due to some issues with the E-Series and our SonicPoint N radios we had to upgrade to an out-of-band firmware in order to resolve some problems with our radios dropping their connections to the clients. The firmware we were running was 5.6.1.1-11o.

We didn’t have any problems with this firmware until this past Sunday when we attempted to upgrade our DNS servers to Windows Server 2008 R2. After 5 days of working on this we narrowed our problem down to our SonicWall. It took this long because the bug in the firmware was not only causing the firewall to drop the larger DNS packets of Server 2008 R2 (EDNS and non EDNS) but also causing the appliance to fail to log that it was dropping said packets. Many articles we found online said the problem could be with the firewall and the larger UDP packets but the logging issues made confirming this with our firewall difficult. In addition our dig tests showed we were EDNS compatible as the tests were passing but not the actual DNS lookups.

SonicWall admitted it was there problem but was unable to provide a reason or answer as to why the firmware or what in the firmware was creating this problem. As such, if you are running 5.6.1.1-11o contact support to upgrade to 5.6.1.8-20o. Once we upgraded our problem instantly went away.

If you are in this predicament I hope this post and the other ones about this issue can save you at least 5 days of effort.  The other info is here.

DNS trouble with Server 2008 R2

We are having an odd DNS problem and I’ve been receiving a lot of good help from many wonderful folks on Twitter. However, we are trying to solve this in 140 characters and that is proving difficult so here is the whole story. If this fails the next step is to contact the friendly folks at Microsoft for only $500.

We run Active Directory Integrated DNS on Windows Server 2003. We have a single DNS server that works fine but we are migrated from our physical Server 2003 box to our virtual farm. Our virtual servers are running Server 2008 R2. The plan was, and hopefully still is, to add a Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller with DNS, allow it to replicate the DNS via Active Directory, and then point all the clients to the new DNS server. After sufficient time for that to take place then we would remove our old 2003 DNS server and just be running on the new 2008 R2 server.

I ran dcpomo on the 2008 R2 server, which added DNS, and the replication started. Everything went just as numerous articles said it would. The problem is that the new DNS server will not reliably resolve external domain names. It works fine internally but now when going upstream to our external DNS server, which is provided by our local fiber internet service.

When you run an nslookup on the new 2008 R2 DNS server you get a time-out the first try. You can then run it a second time at which point it works and will continue to work until you try a different domain. So if you nslookup yahoo.com the first response will be a time-out. The second and each subsequent time it will work fine until you switch and try google.com. Then that one will work but if you go back and try yahoo.com again it will time-out the first time.

The AD integration part is working as both the old 2003 DNS server and the new 2008 R2 DNS server are keeping each other up-to-date however for reasons we haven’t uncovered yet the 2008 R2 server is not resolving external names.

We have confirmed that our firewall is EDNS and DNSSEC compatible and passes the larger UDP packets. We have also tried disabling EDNS on the server but it has no effect. Whether on or off the time-out still occurs.

Seems we are missing something obvious but what?

I’m Still a Baby

I have had to have a bit of mouth work done due to the fact that I still have some baby teeth. Apparently growing adult teeth is not a 100% guarantee as one ages. In my case, I had four baby teeth for which there was no adult tooth to replace.

To manage the situation then my dentist ensured that as the rest of my adult teeth came in that the four remaining baby teeth would still be usable. This was done with a great deal of success as I’ve had those four teeth for a long while.

Early last year one of the four teeth split into fourths. As a result, I had to have it surgically removed as a tooth that has been around for that long becomes rather attached. Once the tooth was removed, some cow bone was placed in my jaw to maintain support for my gums as well as to support an implant to replace the tooth that was extracted. This explains my cravings for grass and periodic “moos”.

Last week I started having pain in the area of one of the three remaining baby teeth. When I went in to have it checked the dentist found that it had a small chip out of the back corner and that the tooth behind it had a rather large cavity. The bad news is I had a cavity (two actually), the good news is he was able to place a filling on the baby tooth to repair the chip and hopefully increase its lifespan. I’ve been told the remaining baby teeth may last until I’m 40.

I go back in January to have the remaining cavity filled. Until then here’s hoping the remaining three pieces of original equipment last – as you probably know, dental work ain’t cheap.

Moo.

If a tree falls in the woods.....

Often times the tech crew on Sundays will get involved in various discussions about sound theories and applications. I like to use these discussions to help teach the guys and help them improve as often my friends are misinformed.

This past Sunday we got on the very philosphical subject regarding if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? I postulated that it does indeed make a sound but one of my former friends, whom I won't poke fun of here argued that it does not make a sound but rather creates a pressure wave that is not sound unless someone is there with an ear to perceive it. He said the wave does not become sound until it is heard by an ear which converts the pressure wave into sound therefore without an ear the tree only creates a pressure wave but does not create sound.

By now you are probably agreeing with me that my former friend was indeed wrong. It stands to reason that if the tree creates a pressure wave then it does indeed create sound with or without an ear. It's not as if the pressure wave is going to be perceived as light instead of sound when an ear intercepts the wave.

Needless to say my former friend and I had good time going back and forth basically arguing about the definition of the word "sound". Confident that I was right I continued with my morning. Being less sure of himself my former friend looked up the word "sound" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Turns out "sound" is both the pressure wave by itself regardless of whether or not an ear is present to perceive it and it is also the perception of said wave by an ear. I'm so glad his confidence in his own argument was so shaken that he had to do the necessary research to prove us both right.

Of course, I could care less who was right and who was wrong. I'm merely interested in the truth prevailing and in this case we were both in the right. The question this begs is why my former friend felt the need to argue the definition of a word? Perhaps he learned from a famous politician who was accused of infidelity and based part of his defense on disputing the definition of another obvious, simple word: "is".

Windows Mobile 6.5 Twitter App Update

In an earlier post, I talked about Twitter clients for Windows Mobile 6.5. Even though I have jumped ship and now have an iPhone, I don’t want to leave my Windows Mobile 6.5 friends hanging.

It would appear that the Twitter apps I reviewed before are no longer working. Neither one has been updated to comply with Twitter’s new oAuth authentication requirements. As a result neither one will allow you to login to your Twitter account.

The fact that these apps haven’t been updated can mean many things. Perhaps the developers are too busy or perhaps Windows Mobile 6.5 is dying a slow death. Another theory could be that they are putting their time into updating the apps for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform. No matter how you slice things, it would appear that there is much uncertainty ahead in terms of Windows Mobile based phones but that is another post for another time.

For now, when searching for a Windows Mobile Twitter client make sure it supports the new oAuth method that Twitter started requiring August 31, 2010. It is generally a good rule of thumb to check the update history to see how often the developer updates the program.

One I have come across and have friends using with success is moTweets. It has been recently updated, updates are free, and it appears the developer keeps the app up-to-date. It isn’t free though, it costs $3.99.

Since I don’t use the app I can’t recommend it for anything beyond the fact that is support oAuth but it does appear that the number of Windows Mobile 6.5 apps for Twitter that support oAuth are fewer and fewer.

The Story of the Beets

My dad has been teaching a parenting class for the community at our church and apparently he has been telling the class the story of the beets. In fairness to him I haven’t heard him tell it but I’m pretty sure his version is wrong.

For those who know me you know I eat adventurously and I eat just about anything. There are 3 small caveats to that mantra. First, I despise beets – no matter how they are prepared. They are a terrible food that I believe you are forced to eat if you die and go to that eternal hot place. Second, I’m not a big fan of olives, either black or green but I have been known to tolerate them on occasion. Third, mushrooms are ok but if I have a preference I would prefer to pass. Other than that, I like to try new things and enjoy the variety of foods available to us on planet earth.

Growing up I was the easy child. My sister was the difficult child. I would eat whatever mom and dad put in front of me. My sister on the other hand liked and disliked certain foods based on the weather. Some days she would like broccoli, other days she only liked broccoli with cheese, and on yet other days she would swear she never liked broccoli at all. Multiply that by the number of meals a family eats together and you can see how she was the difficult child.

Despite the fact that I ate everything I was served my father was determined to make me eat beets. I had tried them and didn’t like but for some reason I will never understand he wanted me to eat a full serving a beets. There must have been 2 or 3 pounds on my plate and with great wailing and gnashing of teeth I choked down all the beets. I remember that as being the longest night ever. I would take a bite, chew, choke a bit, gag them down and then regurgitate them a little.

I thought I was a pretty good 8 or 9 year old as I would eat everything else while my sister’s tastes changed based on the day of the week. Apparently my good track record was not enough. Meanwhile my sister was allowed to continue being a persnickety eater – and she is to this day.

As for me, I love broccoli – no matter how you prepare it but my favorite is with cheese and crumbled Ritz crackers.

Hopefully this sets the record straight, not only for you today, but for my therapist tomorrow.

Labor Day and Network TV

Labor Day 2010 has come and gone, but not before a pleasant surprise. Tonight was a rerun of the Big Bang Theory called “The Pants Alternative”, one of our favorite episodes. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves on TV again at the end of the episode as part of the vanity card.

If you missed it, the details are available here.

I know, I know. I’ve got to let it go but it is always fun for someone with as little excitement in his life as me to find himself on network TV not once, but twice. Oh, and my wife and Donnie too.

iPhone Transition

You are no doubt as surprised as I am that I now have an iPhone. Not only do I have one but my wife also has one. Both these statements are hard for a lifelong Microsoft guy to type. Holding multiple certifications from said Microsoft I have always been in their corner. I’ve always said Microsoft can do anything and why learn multiple platforms if I can stick with the one I’ve known the longest.

Well, those thoughts, they be a ‘changin’. Not only have I taken the iPhone and iPad plunge but I’ve also abandoned Microsoft’s virtualization efforts through Hyper-V. That change in thinking is probably a whole other blog post so for this one I’ll try to just stick to the iPhone transition.

For my wife this is her first smartphone and she is loving it! We have already been playing around with Face Time and she is enjoying have the internet in her pocket along with all the other obvious smartphone advantageous.

For me there have been a few paradigm shifts that I have had to deal with. The first is the lack of ring profiles. On a Windows phone, you can set profiles that change ring and other notification settings based on your schedule or other rules. This is possible because in the Windows realm you have full access to the phone settings while Apple restricts such access to these settings on the iPhone. This could be one reason why the iPhone works so much better than any Windows phone I’ve ever had but I digress.

To get around this I have learned to modify how the iPhone notifies me of things and it doesn’t take that much to remember to use the silent switch. So far so good on this change.

The next shift is in the display. On a Windows phone, you can see your voicemails, emails, texts, missed calls, calendar, tasks, the weather, and much more all on a single screen just by turning the phone on. With the iPhone, you don’t get any of that until you unlock the phone. Even then, often times you have to open an app to see the total number of messages or details. The iPhone does tell you on the lock screen if you have new items but to see the full picture you have to unlock it. This is taking a bit longer to get used to but since the phone is so fast and responsive I don’t mind clicking the apps to get the information because I don’t have to wait for it nor do I have to wait to jump from one app to the other.

The final sift, at least as of now, is the lack of status lights. On Windows phones there is usually a colored LED that lets you know the phone is charging or lets you know if you have emails, texts, voicemails, missed calls, etc. So without even turning the phone on you knew something was waiting for you. The iPhone has no such lights so you have to turn it on to even find out if there is anything for you. This also isn’t that big of a deal since the iPhone responds so quickly and doesn’t require any waiting for anything – unlike my previous Windows phones.

Overall, I’m finding it easy to make the iPhone work for me, and hard as it is to admit I’m enjoying it a bit.

An Update on Eric's arm

Today Eric had a follow-up appointment with a pediatric orthopedic specialist. Eric is still unable to rotate his left arm at the elbow. It has taken some time to get to this point but everyone is confident his problems are with this elbow and not his wrist.

The orthopedic doctor we saw in Lafayette last week didn’t really have any answers so I appreciate our pediatrician efforts to get us scheduled with the specialist before Eric starts Kindergarten next week.

After an exam, he ordered some more x-ray s of the elbow. I must say I’m starting to enjoy wearing lead lined aprons. Eric did not enjoy the x-ray process again but the pictures proved conclusive in determining that Eric did not break his elbow at any point. The doctor said there is no evidence of a break however there could be a broken piece of cartilage that the x-ray won’t see but that is causing the pain.

His suggestion was to remove the splints and slings and give it 2 more weeks. As Eric uses the arm it should strengthen and as is most often the case the pain will subside and go away. If that doesn’t happen the next step is an MRI to find if there is a cartilage fragment in the elbow. If there is one, it would need to be removed surgically.

We are praying that the elbow heals and there is no fragment. Giving a 5 year old an MRI requires him to be sedated, as he won’t lay still enough for the 30-minute procedure. That too would also have to be done by the pediatric imaging specialist in Indy.

Thanks for your prayers and comments, we will know more in 2 weeks.

My blog made a family wedding more fun.

This past weekend my aunt got married in Ohio so, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a lot of family, some of whom I don’t see very often.

One pleasant surprise was that my 2 great aunts, my grandmother’s sisters, were also there. I haven’t seen them in many years so it was great to get to spend some time with them. How my blog made it more fun is that they have been following my blog page for a while now and reading my tweets through this page. As a result, we had a great time talking about things they had already read about. They were also up-to-date on their great, great niece and nephew.

So this one is a shout out to my 2 favorite readers, my 2 favorite great aunts, Ruth and Mary (names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent, I’ll never tell). It was a lot of fun seeing you this past weekend and I’m glad you enjoy reading this site. I’ll try to keep it interesting. Hope you can come visit soon.

Red Rover Should be Outlawed, part 2

Eric had a follow-up appointment with his pediatrician today and she was very concerned about the lack of movement in the arm. Eric is very sensitive to specific movement in the elbow so she ordered another round of x-rays. When they got to the x-ray room Eric asked if they could just x-ray his other arm instead.

After the x-rays we had an appointment setup with an orthopedic specialist. It turned out to be the same doctor who did my grandfather’s hip surgery back in January. He looked at the x-rays and was unable to see any breaks. Since Eric is only 5 his bones are not done developing so they are not hardened yet therefore it is difficult to see breaks in the cartilage. He examined the arm, with Eric screaming most of the time, and determined based on the limited range of motion that the radial head of the elbow probably has a small fracture in it that you won’t see on the x-ray. Either way the treatment is the same it is broken or not.

They immobilized his elbow and wrist this time in a splint and then put his arm in a sling to prevent any motion. We go back in 2 weeks to see how it has healed. Fortunately if there is a break it is small enough that it won’t create any alignment problems as his arm continues to grow and develop.

The saga continues.

Red Rover Should be Outlawed

Today was a fairly normal day, aside from getting some bad news regarding the compatibility of our MSA 1000 series SAN and Windows Server 2008 Core. I was looking forward to a quiet evening at home when around 4:30pm my wife calls me and tells me that Eric fell at school and they think he broke his arm.

Since we are all at Faith each day, she had picked Eric up and brought him over to the building I work in. He was crying like I’ve not seen him cry before and any attention we tried to pay to his arm only made things work. We called our pediatrician and Heather and Eric headed to Urgent Care.

I went back to my office to grab a few things and then followed behind them. By the time I got to Urgent Care, they were already back seeing the doctor. Apparently, I still look a lot like Eric because when I walked in the receptionist immediately asked if I was with the little boy that had just come in. She took me back and I could hear Eric crying in the exam room. I really appreciate the quick service the staff provided us although I don’t know if they were helping us out of concern for Eric or concern for their ears. Have I mentioned I’ve never seen Eric that upset?

While they were taking his vitals, Heather explained the story details. They were playing Red Rover and Eric was trying to break through the other team but instead of breaking through, he fell backwards and tried to catch himself landing on his arm. This got my attention as I had received a tweet earlier in the day from someone saying Red Rover should be called “Get Stitches”. Yet another example of Twitter predicting the future.

They took him back to x-ray and even from the lobby I could hear Eric screaming as they tried to get his arm in position for several pictures. The doctor was concerned about the wrist, arm, and elbow areas. Based on the amount of pain I was assuming a break of some sort.

We got back to the exam room and the doctor arrived a few minutes later after reading the films. His arm was not broke. The swelling and pain were caused by contusions and over extensions of the tendons and ligaments. I was surprised to say the least but very relieved. They put his arm in a splint (through Monday’s follow-up appointment), another enjoyable process, and we were on our way.

It is pictures like this that I make public that will inevitably scar Eric for life.

Later I asked Eric how he hurt his arm and he started crying and said, “I was trying to break through the line and I couldn’t.” I’m not sure if he was upset because his arm hurt or because he lost at the game.

We want to thank everyone for the kind words we received via many technology means and their prayers for Eric.

Live from my iPad...

It has been a while since I have posted here so I figured it was time to at least say something that was more than 140 characters. While I find Twitter easier due to the shortness of posts I know my loyal audience expects more on this blog.

This post is the first of its kind as I am writing and posting this entirely from my iPad. My iPad and entrance to the Apple world are posts in and of themselves but my point here is there is more to come and as always for the latest follow me on Twitter.

If there is anything wrong with this post, blame the iPad.

Are Bill & Steve fighting over me?

As you probably know by now, I purchased an iPad over the weekend. I’ve been evaluating this decision for several months and trying to make a business case for the device (more on that in future posts). The full story will be told on this blog over time and what better way to start than with the relentless pursuit of Microsoft not to let me go.

The backstory here can be summarized as follows: I’m a PC person, Apple sucks. PC’s are better. So my using an Apple product is very much a paradigm game changing shift.

The fun started with the whole Apple Store experience. . It was as if they could smell my MCSE and knew I was wearing a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone. You can’t just go in there and buy something, you have to put your name on a list and wait for someone to help you. Naturally, the place was packed and after waiting an hour I found out several of the geniuses had called in sick. I thought I could just go pick an iPad off the shelf and head home

The only one they had was the 64gb 3G model. I wanted the 3G but would have been happy with the 16gb but decided the extra $200 was worth the extra space and worth not having to wait another month to get one.

Once I got home I tried to install a free app from the App Store. I have an iTunes account but hadn’t used it in years so I had to update my credit card information. I’m still not sure why a credit card is required for a free app but it is. The problem was that iTunes would not accept my credit card. It kept saying my security code was invalid. Frustrated I Googled the problem and found out that I wasn’t the only one but that the solution was to call the credit card company. I couldn’t figure out what could be wrong with my credit card, after all I had just used it at the Apple Store.

So I broke down and called the credit card company. The nice lady told me my card had been blocked due to an unauthorized purchase at the Apple Store. She said I had never used my card there before and so they blocked my card. She asked me to confirm if the purchase was valid. At this point, I’m laughing aloud. I told the lady she made my day and the charge was valid. She turned my card back on and my iTunes account was back in business so I could install that free app.

Between the long lines and the blocked credit card it is a wonder it all worked out but I have an iPad, I’m using it, I made this post with it, and will be talking a lot more about it….even though I do feel a bit dirty.