Posts from the ‘Technology’ category

Up in the air

Friday afternoon, I heard what sounded like a really small helicopter…

It WAS a really small helicopter!

Actually, a fairly large remote control helipcopter…

The “controllers” were situated on the property adjacent to mine. I had a pretty good idea who they might be, but Karl and I walked over to check. Gravity Shots is the website for a Montana Aerial Photography company and I had seen the site. Husband and wife team Jeff and Adele Scholl combined love of Montana, the outdoors, photography and flying – good on them! Their photos are fantastic. They were hired by my part time neighbors.

Right above me – you can see the camera and extended lens.

Not sharp focus but a little more detail.

Karl watched too.

Might as well sit down and enjoy the show.

Router and DSL upgrade

**I back timed this post so it appears before the MayDay flower. Not everyone is fascinated by routers…

I made a change in my DSL service and as I was doing that my 4 year old router “gave up the ghost” so I ordered a new one to be delivered toute suite.

The new baby was supposed to arrive Wednesday – after a Tuesday internet meeting and before a Thursday internet meeting. Mother Nature decided differently. The spring snowstorm that didn’t dump much snow on me, but DID on areas around, shut down the mountain passes and with them our FedEx service for Wednesday. Big Mike, my FedEx guy, was happy to have had Wednesday off with pay, but had no time for chit-chat on Thursday as his truck was full of 2 days worth of stuff. Karl did get his treat, though!

The bad news for me is that I had an extra day to worry about the installation. Routers and I have not gotten along well in the past and twice I’ve had to call for help. It has been 4 years since the last and I hoped that they were now “plug and play”. I mentioned this to one of the people on my programming team and he just laughed nervously…

I was encouraged by the “Start Here” – and also by 2 other labels that cautioned to insert the CD before plugging ANYTHING in to ANYTHING else. To me, that boded well for automatic configuration vs having to delve into IP and DNS and other acronyms I have only a passing knowledge of.

Things went pretty well! The main trick, which was one I DID know, but I think they could have been more explicit about is that anytime a setting is changed on the router, everything: DSL modem and router (and to be “safe”, I also cold boot my computer) has to be shut down and the order of restart is modem, router, computer.

But the CD did all of the configuration as well as leading me through adding the security for the wireless part.

Kind of cool looking…internal antenna instead of the directional “rods”. I’m getting the same strength signal everywhere with this router that I was with the old AND getting my new DSL speed.

Router and DSL modem live discreetly in a corner of the living room behind an antique dry sink. Everyone is happy, wires are hidden (I have a thing about wires and cords) and we get wireless internet like magic all over the house, yard and out to the motorhome.

AcerBaby

AcerBaby …. you sing that like Santa Baby (Eartha Kitt, 1953)… Anyway, fair warning, this is a technology post because I R a technology professional and general gadget afficiando.

My story, and I’m sticking to it, is that my backup laptop computer was having fits keeping up with my production laptop – not enough oomph and it has a loud and annoying fan. I didn’t want to get a new production machine. Not only is my current one fine, but Vista v2.0 aka Windows 7 or whatever they decide to call it is due sometime not too far off and I want to make sure to get something configured ok for that. I had been pricing inexpensive laptops for a backup machine and suddenly found out about “netbooks”. They have been around for a bit, but first I knew of them was several weeks ago. They are $500-$700 less than the “inexpensive” backup laptops I was pricing.

Called netbooks as the original idea was a very small laptop or a very large PDA – something for email and internet. But now, the netbooks are full fledged laptops in a very small footprint. After reading, and looking and dithering ad nauseum, I ordered an Acer Aspire One 10 inch with a 2 gb RAM upgrade. It comes with a 160 gb hard drive, Wi-fi, RJ45 (hard wire network connection), a multi-function card reader. No CD/DVD. It runs on an Atom processor which is fast, but low power consumption and low heat. The 6 cell battery reputed to go 8-10 hours. It will drive an external monitor.

Many are tired of hauling around 15 and 17 inch laptops – I would be one. I often take mine when on errands during “office hours” so I can check in.

As of today, the Acer, aka AcerBaby (it is sooooo cute!) is fully loaded with everything I run on my production machine. The screen is bright and clear, albeit small. It jumps on the internet via my USB aircard or available wi-fi. Its footprint is smaller than a sheet of paper at about 10 x 7 x 1. It fits in my messenger bag styled purse. It is much easier to type on than a Blackberry or iPhone AND I can do anything on it that I can on my office machine. I am happy.

Sitting on a sheet of paper above for size reference.

AcerBaby!

T.G.I.F.

I have had my fingers on the keyboard – “nose to the grindstone” for the last two weeks and am loving it! I finally have a bit of a handle on Visual Studio/.NET/C# (C Sharp) and the other development tools being used in the current project for UCLA. I am a consultant-programmer for a department of UCLA …since 1991.

Programming has always involved a constant re-educating and adding of new skills but every so often things take what feels like a quantum leap. The learning curve this round has seemed particularly steep. I took a look at the timesheets I submit with my invoices for the last several months – a lot of research, testing, reading, i.e. not much coding. There were days when I struggled to get a few lines of code to work and when it did it was more dumb luck than knowing what I was doing.

Currently there is another programmer and our “boss” at UCLA that make up the team working on the prototype for the new version of software. I have not been alone in the struggle to understand the new paradigm. We use a product called “Go to Meeting” (GTM) to work together. GTM allows us to connect via the internet and any one of us can be the “presenter” – showing our screen to the others. GTM handles the phone conferencing also. This “show and tell” as well as a bit of team coding enabled us to “divide and conquer” – each of us dealing with a piece of the puzzle and then sharing what we learned. It has been fun, interesting, frustrating and annoying all at the same time but now that it is coming together – all worthwhile!

I have not suddenly become a .NET expert, but I have written some code in the last two weeks…code that I understand, that I know why it works! And just as we are close to having the prototype ready for the “boss” to demo to his “boss”… a new couple of tools are close to being released. Tools that will solve some problems: XAML (“zamel”) and Silverlight. I am NOT afraid! XAML particularly is the programmers’ answer to HTML. Silverlight brings it all together in .NET. It is an exciting time to be a programmer even given the constant feeling that there is too much to learn.

But, today – on this Friday – I am grateful for the last two weeks – for the opportunity to learn and do something which is fun, challenging and oh, pays the mortgage! I am also very grateful for the team I work with – nice people – professional, interesting, caring – a great team! Still… T.G.I.F. – a good day today and then the weekend to play.

Just in case your eyes have glazed over because you don’t know and don’t care what .NET or XAML is…Bob shares your sentiments…

Navigation

It stopped snowing and the sun came out but the wind continues to howl and gust at the 35-40 mph range. I took a run into town in the Jeep to see how the interstate felt and get groceries and decided to hold over and leave tomorrow (Sunday) with Billings, Montana for Sunday night’s destination.

The technology available for looking at everything involved with RV travel is extensive and getting better all the time and I use it to make things as easy as possible.

For weather:

I look at NOAA…

NOAA

…and read the forecast discussion where the meteorologists discuss the models, the conditions and how they come to their conclusions.

Weather Channel

I subscribe to Weather.com Gold which lets me customize my screen and select up to 10 cities. I like the 10 city thing for looking at the forecast weather along my travel path for several days.

Another subscription online service I like is “The Next Exit Online”. The online version allows me to choose a State and then an Interstate. The services available at each exit are described. Fuel stops that are RV accessible are highlighted in red.

Next Exit

Next Exit

I save the screen captures for my route, print out the doc and highlight exits and fuel stops. The sheets are easy to pick up and see the next rest area when I need a break. The listing sorts the exit amenties by the side of the interstate – so easy to see ahead of time if the service is on “my” side of the interstate. The RV fuel stops are very helpful – although the Winnebago is not huge as far as Class A Motorhomes go, I am still 53 feet long and the tow mechanism for the Jeep does not allow for backing up. I can’t get in – or more importantly OUT of every gas station.

Saving my favorite for last…the GPS system. I use a DeLorme Earthmate LT GPS receiver that connects via USB to my notebook computer. DeLorme’s Street Atlas Software on the computer does all of the computation from the receiver satellite info to plot position on the Street Atlas Software screen.

GPS

The receiver “hangs” on the windshield.

GPS

The notebook rides on the dash at an angle I can see at a glance.

The software allows me to set a start point, a finish point and I can adjust the route with “via” points. The navigation screen is split into several sections. Two map sections show a close up and a zoomed out view – and a green arrow shows my current position. The lower sections shows the mileage until the next turn as well as a description of what the next turn is: Exit 28 South on I-90 ramp for example. A section to the right shows the mileage to destination. There is voice direction also – the voice activates as a turn is approaching. The newest version of the software is particularly helpful in cities where it also gives lane information such as “stay in the right lane”.

GPS systems are not infallible so I look at everything – especially city routes – on paper as well. But it is a great tool for driving a big rig in unfamiliar places and navigating to the rural rv parks that I prefer.

Karl thinks it is all pretty boring…

Karl

His 2nd favorite nap spot – behind the bed and the back wall…

Karl