Last time in my old apartment...

So, the apartment is empty, and all my stuff is in my new home.  Today I went over to the apartment to drop off the keys and look around for the last time.  Jaani seemed a little confused about what was going on, but I think he will be happy once we go over to MarryMoore park on the first nice sunny day we have.

It's sad to move... I don't know why, but it just seems like every place I call home has some form of special significance, but now it's time for a new beginning at my new home. 

Jaani seems to be adapting well, but he just seemed to have a little trouble figuring out why there wasn't anything in the old place.

Anyway, he is fine, and I'm starting to get everything put away.  Soon I'll have everything set up, and then I'll continue my usual online presence.

So, that's all for now.

Later,

     SteveO

Earth Hour is gone... but don't forget it!

So, now that Earth Hour has come and gone, I was happy to see it in the news.  I don't know any cool stats to describe how much power was saved, nor do I know anything about how/if the global awareness of greenhouse gas emissions from power consumption has changed, but I just want to thank everyone who took part in Earth Hour by at least reducing power consumption during that time.

Later,
      SteveO

Lawerence Lessig at Greenfest... and I moved.

So, it was a long weekend.  Not only did I move almost all my stuff, but I also got a chance to meet Lawerence Lessig at the Green Festival at Seattle's Exibition center.

It was really cool, Lessig gave a speech about Green Culture, which included an incredibly awesome powerpoint presentation and Lessig's usualy ingenious advise about copyright laws and how this country is too concerned with things that don't matter, and not concerned enough with things that make a difference.

After the talk, Lessig was signing copies of his newest book Remix which focuses on the phenominom on Youtube that involves modifying existing content to create an original work.  Similar to sampling in Hiphop music... in a way.  I also felt kind of special because I was able to recommend a totally awesome website called Acedemic Earth, where people are able to watch videos of lectures from schools like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT on the Internet... and all of the content is provided using the Creative Commons copyright (which Lessig played a leading role in creating.)  He liked the idea so much that he opened up his Macbook and took a wrote a note about it, and also said that he would look into releasing video of his classroom lectures on the site.  BTW, Lessig is a professor at Stanford University, and he will soon be moving to Harvard..

So, it was really cool to go to Greenfest and see Lessig talk, and then I also walked around to all the booths and look at all the solar systems and alternative energy and other types of sustainable living proects. 

The other thing I did this weekend was move all my stuff.  At least almost all of my stuff.  I guess I would have been able to get everything if I didn't go to Greenfest, but I wanted to go (and I could get in for free) so I had to go... plus it's not every day that Lawerence Lessig is in Seattle! 

So... I am really tired.  Most of my muscles are pretty soar... and I am ready for bed.  so, I'll leave you all with that.

Later,

     SteveO

Earth Hour! Take part, and help a little bit...

So, I have recently been talking alot about my own power usage over the past couple weeks, and here is your chance to do sometime! Tomorrow March 28th from 9:30 - 10:30 PM (your local time) turn off all your lights!
If you have looked at my other blogs today, you have seen that I am spamming this to all my blogs. So, if you want to read the same thing 5 times, then go for it!

However, because I'm moving on Saturday, I'm just going to wait until 10:30 to start plugging stuff in. That way I can be sure that I'm using as little power as possible... and getting rid of my residual 2 amp draw on the power grid...


Be part of Earth Hour... you can go without your lights for an hour can't you?






This movement is getting bigger, and while it isn't enough to solve the problem of using too much power, it the main goal of the project is to raise awareness.

Many critics claim that because many people use inefficient flashlights, volunteers drive around to get the word out, and many city pay city employees to turn out their lights, the even actually increases the amount of energy used... however in 2008, by comparing energy usage on the 2 Saturdays before the event, Wikipedia suggests that over a Gigawatt of power, and 100 tonnes of CO² were conserved during the 24 hours of the event (one hour for each time zone.)

I hope that you will all take part in this event, or at least reduce some of you power usage tomorrow night.

Later,
SteveO

This makes me feel a little guilty...

So, I was looking at the feature in Google Reader that analizes you trends... and I came to the conclusion that I read a lot more news articles while I'm at work.

The first chart shows the time of day that I read the most articles.

The second chart shows my reading activity over the past 30 days.

So, I think it's something I should feel a little guilty about, however I guess I need to be doing something productive at work my reading some time.  Anyway... At least I only read a small percentage of the news articles... I could sit and read every article end to end.

Anyway... also, for those of you who noticed, my web cam is down, and it will remain that way until after the move.  I don't know exactly when I'll have it back up, but I hope it doesn't take me too long.

So, there is a quick update for now.

Later,
     SteveO

Go to Whitehouse.gov!

Go to Whitehouse.gov!  Obama is hosting an experiment to try and get the American people involved in a nation wide town hall!

All you have to do is go to the site, vote on a few questions other people are asking, and maybe even propose a few questions of your own.

I think this is an awesome idea, and everyone needs to take part.

Thanks... and participate!

Later,

     SteveO

FYI, all of the hyperlinks go to this site.

Moving is a lot of work... kinda

So, the moving process is under way.  I have packed up most of my stuff.  I still have to get containers to put some kitchen stuff in... like my dishes and utensils and stuff... I have arranged to move in and have confirmed my new address.  I have changed my address with about a million people... or at least gotten paperwork that needs to be filed to change my address.  I was actually thinking that while I'm at it, I may just pay the $10 fee to get a new license with my current address and a newer picture on it too.

So, what's left?

I have to get a rental truck... put all my stuff in it... take all my stuff out at the new apartment... finish the cleaning and stuff at my old apartment... change my address with a couple more places... turn in my old keys and garage door opener... and finally I will be able to unpack all my stuff and resume my normally scheduled lifestyle.

However, I have to say one thing that has made this whole process a little easier (like remembering who I did and did not update my address for) is the new Gmail Tasks feature.  All I have to do is remember to add everything I need done to my task list, and add a due date.

Now, if I wonder if I remember to add XXX to the list of places to change my address with, I can check the list... and if I can't remember if I added them and checked it off, I can just view the completed tasks.

I only wish there were a few more things for the task lists: what time the task is due, alerts (via email, pop-up, or SMS), google calendar integration, and maybe google talk integration (for pop-ups that come up when the browser is closed.)

Anyway... regardless... I'm happy about the move.  Sad to leave Renton, but I think it is something I have wanted for a while (to be really close to my work.)

So, that's what I'm doing for the time being. 

Later,
     SteveO

My annual Power and CO2

So, I have a report on my power usage from the past year!

My results are only current up to February because that is what I have received from Puget Sound Energy.  My results are very interesting.  So, when looking at this data, you can see how much power I used at my old apartment (when I lived with Evelyn...) and my current apartment (by myself...), plus you can see how much my power consumption changed when James and Emerald were staying with me (January and February 2009).

I don't contribute the large amount of power I used at my old apartment souly to Evelyn... that apartment was an older building that didn't have very good insulation, plus there was a fireplace that I realized we left open too much when we weren't using it.  So, you can conclude that improving your insulation (and having a neighbor below you that heats your floor...) can make a huge impact on your power consumption.  I would also like to note that I was away from my home for most of December and about half of July, which means that those two months do not accurately represent normal power usage (plus, there was little to no ghost power being drawn from my home.)  In addition, it is key to note that my power most certainly would have been above average for the month of December 2008, because that was one of the coldest months we have had this winter.

There is more data though... that I just estimated, for the beginning of my time at the Bravado (April - December 2007: at my old apartment).  With that data, my average kWh per month is about 752 kWh.  Which is significantly less than the 1,100 kWh that the above chart suggests.  In fact, if I weren't too short on time to re-publish a new chart, then I would print it, in stead, you can view the most recent chart here.  The chart is too wide to look good on this page anyway, so I don't even think I want to view it.

The next thing that will be clearly visible in the chart, will be the updated data from my power bill, which I will receive next month.  That will show exactly how much money I speant on Electricity at Burnett (my current apartment... and then in another 10 months, I'll have all the data for Archstone (my next apartment.)

What I expect to see so far, is that Bravado averages about 752 kWh every month, and Burnett averages about 386 kWh per month.  Which is a difference in about $640 a year.  However, paying $4,800 more (in rent) to save $640 a year doesn't really sound worth it... even when you factor in the extra $1,733 that was saved in gas because I could commute rather than having to drive I still only saved $2,373...  In fact, the only way to justify the move to Burnett is to say that the time it took me to commute the extra distance had a value of $6,650... meaning that with my time, I saved $9,023.  Only then can you say that I saved $4,223 by moving to Renton. 

By that same justification, I am saving $3,540 a year in rent by moving to Archstone, plus I am saving $8,170 in commute time for the rest of 2009.  Meaning, that in total, I am saving $11,710 by moving to Archstone.  I could also say that Living at Archstone could save me as much as $7,090 over living at Bravado.

Now for the final (and possibly most important) thing to note about how this relates to my CO² emissions... I reduced my CO² emissions by about 337 lbs per year by moving to Burnett... plus my car emissions of 8,962 lbs per year, however, my transit emissions were 1,982 lbs... so, my total CO² emissions reduced by 7,317 just by moving to Burnett.  So far, the move to Archstone will reduce my CO² emissions by about 1,983 lbs... that is, assumming that my electrical usage does not go up (which it probably will a little... but we will see what I can do about that.)

Obama on Jay Leno

I really don't think it's too big of a deal for the President to appear on a late night talk show...  I think it's a good thing...

Haha... he made fun of the special Olympics... he's insensative.

I use a little power, but not too much... right?

I'll start with a quick summary for those of you who don't have a lot of time:
1. I tracked my Entertainment center's power... and used the data to estimate:

• It uses 1,242.1 kWh/year
• Costs $131.28 / year
• Produces 1,132.79 lbs of CO²/year

2. I estimated ghost power used by my entertainment center (if I left the entertainment center off but plugged in 24/7):

• It uses 168.71 kWh/year
• Costs $17.77 / year
• Produces 153.37 lbs of CO²/year

3. Finally, I researched some statistics about world wide emissions, population, trees, and stuff like that:

• US Population: about 307 Million (307,212,123 - CIA)
  
• Annual emissions per person: 36,000 lbs of CO²
• Total Emissions: 9,120,000,000,000 (9.1 Trillion) lbs of CO² per year
  
• World Population about 6.7 Billion (6,706,993,152 - CIA)
  
• Annual emission per person: 9,788.52 lbs of CO²
• Total Emissions: 68,519,640,000,000 (68 Trillion) lbs of CO² per year
  
• 1,427,492,500,000 (1.4 Trillion) trees are required to sustain human life
  (Long term... as in for the trees to remove extra CO²... kind of like heating up the water after you put the frog in... the water gradually becomes lethal for the frog... that's what might happen when we don't have this many trees...)
  
• NASA's 2005 estimate of trees worldwide: about 400,246,300,201 (400 Billion)
  
• 48 lbs of CO² absorbed by each tree every year
  
• 19,211,822,409,648 (19 Trillion) lbs of CO² absorbed by trees in 2005
• 49,307,817,590,352 (49 Trillion) extra lbs of CO² every year
  (beyond what trees can handle)
  
• CO² absorbs heat from sunlight
  (as to other greenhouse gasses)
  
• World population has doubled in the last 40 years
• 2008 showed the highest world wide birth rate ever
  ("The Commentators" - show on NPR yesterday)
• Corporations produce more pollution via factories and office buildings than human people
  (corporations are legally people)
• All this info together makes me think we may have a problem.
• We need 1,827,738,800,201 (1.8 Trillion) more trees
  (That is in order to compensate for the CO² we create. Which one day could reach toxic levels and make Earth a lot more like Venus.)
  
• I really hope I made a mistake somewhere...
• Emissions data is from 2004...
  tree estimate from 2005...
  population estimates from 2007...

I also added sources and more details below... so, feel free to browse or read the whole thing.

This week was a testing week for me at home. I know I test at work all the time, but at home I am trying to figure out just home much power I really use. So, I started this little test by posting a bit about my over all power usage to the Frizzlefry tech blog (which just got a new look! Ironically it is the same look as this blog, minus the logo...) and now I'm just going to blurt out a little bit about my day to day usage.

So, My entertainment center has been the focus of my testing this week, and I have to admit that the results were a little different than I expected. I thought that my entertainment center would be a huge power hog. After all I do have a large amount of electronic stuff in my apartment, and the bulk of the stuff that I use all the time is in one place. So, for the experiment I hooked my Kill-A-Watt to my entertainment center, and I have the following items powered through it:

• TV
• Laptop
• DVD Player
• PC Speakers (because my TV's speakers suck!)
• Xbox
• Printer
• External Hard Drive
• bookshelf lamp

So... how much power does all that stuff use? Well from normal usage of what ever it is I do on a day to day basis, it uses 1.43 kilowatt Hours (kWh) on a weekday, and about 2.36 kWh on a weekend day. While I am sleeping I use about .43 kWh, and I use about .6 kWh when I am at work. This means that in a typical week (and I am predicting usage between yesterday at 07:30, and tomorrow at 23:45) I probably use about 10 kWh.

So, what does this really mean? Well, it means about $1 per week... 11lbs of CO² per week*... 564lbs of CO² per year*. So, the power adds up. It's like driving 813 miles in a car that gets 30 mpg... or you could call it one person's contribution to riding 2,165 miles on the bus.

One other factor that I didn't really think about too much was the draw of "ghost power". This isn't the result of some coporious entity flying around and plugging in invisible electronics, but this is the power that all of my stuff draws when I am not around to monitor it. Ghost power is generated by all of the electronic stuff people have these days. You see, one upon a time, when you turned something on, you actually flipped a physical switch (Like a light switch...) and now a days electronic devices have a button that is connected to electronic switch inside the device. Even when the device is off, these devices still draw power. Some devices like (e.g. desktop computers, TVs, monitors, transformers, ect.) draw power to keep capacitors charged at all times; that way you don't have to wait as long for them to turn on. These also draw power while the devices are off.

My entertainment center draws a constant .16 amps while turned off. So how does that factor in? Well, that is .02 kWh (168.17 kWh per year) and if you assume I were to constantly leave my entire entertainment system off... to my power bill, it's $0.00 per hour... $0.05 per day... $0.34 per week... $1.48 per month... $17.77 per year... and those are the small numbers in this equation. The larger numbers are when you look at how many lbs of CO² that produces: .02 per hour... .46 per day... 2.98 per week... 12.91 per month... 153.37 lbs of CO²per year! Those numbers are just from having everything plugged in and turned off!

Now, in perspective, from multiple sites around the Internet, I've come to the conclusion that the average person probably produces somewhere around 700 lbs of CO² every year... so, I am only producing about ¹/₇

of what a normal person produces, but that doesn't really make it ok... I mean, if all 7 billion people did that, we would have a huge problem, and the problem is that all 7 billion people are producing much more than that. The average American (about 304 Million people) produces about 32,000 lbs of CO² every year. The rest of the world produces about 15,000 lbs of CO² per person...

So, world wide, we produce somewhere around 109,560,000,000,000 (109 Trillion) lbs of CO² every year. There is nowhere for that gas to go. We breathe it in, it absorbs heat from sun light, and I am kind of sure that the trees can't deal with that much CO²... at least (assuming a mature tree absorbs 48 lbs of CO² per year) around 2,282,500,000,000 (2 Trillion) trees just to sustain human life. NPR Said here that "In 2005, there were 400,246,300,201 (more or less) trees on our globe," which was a rough estimate produced by NASA. At that time there were a little over 6.4 billion people on the planet. One other key factor is that corporate emissions from factories and offices are typically far greater than emissions from individuals; plus the human population is growing exponentially about every 40 years (and speeding up) so we will need more factories. I am really starting to think we may have some sort of problem.

So, I know that these numbers are all rough estimates... and we aren't accounting for the largest oxygen producer on the planet (water)... and we aren't accounting for all the small plants around the world... and I'm pretty sure some of the gas escapes into the vacuum of space... and I don't even know what else I am forgetting about...

However, I don't think we have a definitive answer to the problem yet... but projects like the smart grid, and Google.org, and countless others will help. We should start by getting rid of fossil fuels, and creating a smarter and cleaner electrical grid.

So, if you read the entire post and the summary at the beginning, you may see something I forgot to change. I made a few mistakes the first time I wrote this post, and when I was writing the summary I checked to verify everything... I may have forgotten to correct a couple things... I am in a hurry to get this done before lunch ends.

Oh, another thing... my goal for CO² emissions for the year of 2009 is to produce less than 12,248 lbs... in 2008 I produced about 14,000 lbs... 2007 was estimated at around 22,000 lbs. My goal is to produce the same CO² emissions as a person in a 3^rd world country... about 3,000lbs.

Later,
SteveO

Sources

• * CO² is based on EPA listed power emissions for my zip code
• Oxygen Created by Trees
• Trees on Planet Earth
• Misc Random Stuff
• CIA World Fact Book - which, by the way, is updated every 2 weeks and has a redesign scheduled for spring 2009!
  
• I also referenced an older post, where I had referenced carboncounter.org... but carboncounter.org doesn't exist anymore... so I referenced this post
  

State of the Frizzlefry Blog March 09!

     So, I decided it was time again.  I am just over a month shy of having a full year of recorded blog statistics, and so I'm going to do the six month(ish) comparison. 

So, the latest stats for the blog are in the picture.  And what they show is that over the past year, I have seen visits, pageviews, pages/visit, and average time on the site increase among my readers.  

I have also found that for the most part, not posting anything for nearly a month doesn't hurt my readership too much.  However, because my bounce rate is higher, and the number of new visits is down it tells me that over time the performance of this blog is not the best.  So it's a good thing I didn't quit my day job yet to become a professional blogger.

However, compared to my other blogs, the Frizzle Tech blog is showing an decrease in bounce rate, and an increase in new visits.  Which demonstrates that a clear and consistent theme on the blog is important.

The Frizzlefry Web Watch blog has shown that people are interested in lists of videos that someone likes.  So, by creating a blog that is entirely made up of Youtube and Hulu video content created by other people will show consistent growth over the long term.

  

The Three Wiredos blog has proven that a blog with no focus and two posts will have very few visitors, and a high bounce rate.  The blog fizzled out before it even got going.

So, what have I learned?  If your focus is to stay in touch with the surrounding community, distant family, and friends;  your readership will remain consistant with the group of individuals who know you personally.  

However, for a marketable blog that shows consistant growth and produces profit from advertisements, then you need to increase your readership by posting consistantly on a focused topic or at least a range of articles united by a common catagory.

So, there is the state of the blog.  

Later,

  

     SteveO

Flu Season in Washington

That's right, it's flu season in Washington.  I guess the project that I got this picture from attempts to track flu outbreaks via the search terms people use.  Using this data, Google.org is capable of tracking flu trends for regions of the globe, and they are able to determine when the flu virus is active in any given area.

The site also gives people a link to a map of local places to get the flu shot based on your Zip code. I do have to admit it didn't take this chart for me to realize that people were getting sick.

For those of you Michiganders... I also have this chart that clearly shows you are at a low risk of getting the flu.  Which means Michigan is at a much lower risk of the flu right now than most of the US.

As you can see in the next picture we have a map of the US.  The key from the charts that I have up above here apply to the map below.

This map tells me that the Pacific North West has a high risk for flu right now, and the chart above contains historical data that goes back to 2003.  Suggesting that the normal pattern for this area is for an increase in flu activity to occur around this time of year.

In Michigan, I can tell that the risk for flu is going down, and this season wasn't a very active flu season. 

So, there is a flu update.  For more information, where this information came from, and even the raw data used to create these pictures... visit google.org/flutrends.

So, that's itfor now.  Soon I should have the state of the Frizzlefry Blog address.  I made my chart this past weekend, but I still need to post it with the summary of the data and stuff.

Later,
     SteveO

My job... meh.

So, I started this new job last Thursday, and I've decided to start looking for a better job.  I know I should be happy with what I got, but it's just mind-numbingly brain dead work.  So much to the point that I think I am actually doing poorly because there isn't really anything I care about.  I know I should feel some sort of obligation or something but I just hate it.  I go in there... I have to show up at 9AM.  I take a 45 minute break for lunch at 11:30AM.  I have my 15 minute break at 2:30PM.  I go home at 5:30PM.  I guess it isn't so much that I have to be there at a certain time, but I have a micro-manager that determines when I take my breaks.  Plus, rather than organising the test pass so that each person is a specialised feature owner, it's just first come first serve on which ever area you choose.  I hate it.

I know I'm judging it way too early, but I kinda started off on the wrong foot when I accepted $5 less per hour than I was looking for... and $2 less than I had submitted my offer at.  Then I had to choose between taking the job or losing my unemployment.  Obviously I had to take the job.  Even then, it's not the job I applied for.  No coding... no planning... I am at the bottom of the ladder again, and it sucks!  The thing is, I don't know how to do this job because I haven't memoized the test cases yet, but I applied for a job where I would create the test plans and test cases, automate some of the procedures, and really make changes, but in stead I get a micro-manager.and a set schedule.  In fact, because of my micro-manager, I have to either drive, or get to work 45 minutes early because he doesn't want to let me come in at 9:10AM and leave at 5:50PM (which is when the Microsoft Shuttle comes and goes.

Maybe my manager is right (not the micro-manager, the real manager), and things are going to change a lot in the next 6 months...  god knows things need to change...  and maybe it would be good for me to urge that change to happen sooner than later.  I don't know.  I guess I'm really just feeling frustrated that I haven't gotten my log-in information yet... so that means I don't have permission to do my job (as far as the computer is concerned.)  With a little luck, after I get my log-in, I will be given permission to access the source tree for a couple tools and stop being a monkey that just follows directions, but it is just scary to think that I could be going back to doing what I was doing last time I was at GTO. 

Anyway... so yea, at the moment it seems like I kinda hate this job... compared to my old job it's: not as nice,  more of a pain to get to, doesn't pay as well, has pointless extra rules,  not nearly as interesting,  

On the other hand... if I were to move to Redmond, that could technically save me $1,200 a month (that is if I were to put a dollar amount on my commute time to and from work.)  So, maybe if I didn't have to spend 3 hours a day going to and from work I would feel better because I would have up to an extra 3 hours every day... one before work, and between one and two hours after work.  You may say I have 3 after work because I could go to bed an hour later without losing any sleep.

Well, we will see how things go.  I bet I can find some way to work things out in my favor.  However, it is my bed time now... so I'm going to go get some sleep.

Later,

     SteveO

QR barcode madness!

This is the official Frizzlefry Blog QR barcode. The barcode contains the string "http://imthefrizzlefry.blogspot.com" So what do people use these things for? Well, the truth is that they really don't use them in this country. However, they do use them in other countries like China and Japan that actually get the latest technology released to consumers as the technology is developed. Unlike in this country where technology is released at a much slower rate, and that way you have to buy slightly better stuff each year (planned obsolesence.) anyway... so yea, this is what should be on the back of every business card you ever give out. You can actually fit an entire text message onto one of these barcodes.

Like take for instance this barcode, which contains my intire gmail signature.

If you have an android phone, you can actual take a picture of it, you would enter my contact information into your phone, and if you that guy who visited my blog from China that one time, you would probably already know that.

pretty neat 'A'?

If you want your own QR barcode, just go it:
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Anyway... there is a quick little update.

Later,

SteveO

Blog entry day 101...

So, today is day 101 that I have been unemployed.  Which also means this is the first day that I would have been elligable to start back at Microsoft, however, I haven't gotten my new start date yet.  I have a feeling that the missed call I have on my phone could provide some insight to that.  Anyway.

I got a new job.  I start soon.  I am an STE at Microsoft Game Studios working on Network Testing.  Which makes me think that the position is really with MS Game Testing Organization, but it doesn't really matter much because GTO is part of MGS.  so, that's what is kinda new or at least will be new this week.

As for the picture of Jaani in his cage with a cone on his head... Jaani had a lump removed last week, and yesterday he had the stitches removed.  So, even though Jaani only had a cone on once or twice while the stitches were in... now that they were removed, he keeps trying to scratch at the scar.  So, I had to cone his head to keep him from messing with the big gash in his head.  He actually tore it open a little as soon as we got home from the dog park... I took him to the dog park because yesterday the weather was so nice, and he was so good at the vet...

As a third and final note, I have been playing with multi-contact touch screens recently.  James and I actually put together this drafting board like thing that we can use as a Natural User Interface (NUI... or as I kind of like to call a NUBI (Natural User Beta Interface))

Here is a slideshow of the differet pictures of the three prototypes we have put together...  I will be posting more information about exactly what we have done on the tech blog, but for now here is a sneak peek.

View Album

Get your own

So in addition to all of that stuff, I am also trying to get a new blog put together.... yea, that's right, another blog for me to neglect for long periods of time... but anyway... it is called Three Wiredos (We spelled Weirdos wrong... I know...)  So anyway... as the name may imply to those of you in the know, it will be a blog written by myself as well as my new room mates James and Emerald.  Honestly, the reason I created the blog is so in the event that I don't update the blog every day, maybe somebody will, but it doesn't look like that is likely.  We will have to see what the future brings.

So, anyway... I'm calling that an update.

So, there you are mom, a new blog entry for you to read! ;D

Later,

     SteveO