August Heat

Our last Roughrider set of tickets was last week. We took Noah & my brother and had a great time, even with the heat. We left in the 10th inning of the 1st game. (turned out to be a double-header)



Since it was the golden child's 2nd birthday, we bought all kinds of junk. He really liked this big hand.



And his 1st cotton candy!



Last week we also took some treats to daycare for his birthday as well. Here's the dynamic duo having some monkey bars. (frozen chocolate covered bananas)



I think they liked 'em!



I leave you with a scowl!!!



BBB

PC Problem Solved

I have been experiencing a recurring slowdown on my PC for about a year. Basically it would run fine for a while but then would just start dragging & was only usable for limited browsing. No photo editing was possible. It always seemed to happen following high memory or disk usage. I did all the virus scanning & spyware checking possible, ran process explorer & file monitor to look for something eating up cpu. Nothing found... reinstalled xp home... took the stupid thing to CompuRussia and even had them look at it. Then I bought & installed xp professional and it seemed to go away for a while. But it was just a dream now I see... it was all just temperature & timing. You see... summer was at an end when I bought XP professional.

Note: I had never taken a PC in for repair until that time. I cut my teeth in computers maintaining PCs, but I figured maybe it was just something new. They didn't figure out anything except how to charge me for excess labor. Turns out it was a new problem to me...

At lunch today I was explaining the issue to a couple of coworkers for the 10th time and Ben said it had to be either a driver or hardware related. (nice narrowing of the field, ha) I decided to assume he was right & started looking at the hardware. When I got home today, the PC was slow. I went to "My Computer" & clicked "View system information" to head to the device manager to review what was installed & see if anything was showing a conflict or trouble. Before I clicked off the main tab, I noticed that the reported CPU speed was only 836 Mhz!!! No wonder it was running slower. The CPU had been stepped down from its regular 1.67 Ghz speed.

Wonder what would cause a CPU to slow down like that? All I could come up with was temperature. I did some googling for "cpu temperature slowdown" and came up with this article. My cpu seems to fit that Athlon XP 1.33Ghz+ category & max out at 90°C. Recommendations are for 20°C less than the max temp, or 70°C.

To test my theory I rebooted my PC & verified it was at 1.67Ghz. I downloaded speedfan and measured the temp. Temp 2 was at 68°C, which was close enough to 70°C to keep me looking. I started up Norton (a past trigger of the problem) and also started opening images in Nikon Editor to suck up memory. To make things worse I started modifying the images rather randomly which always causes Nikon Editor problems... seems to keep a big ass undo buffer or something. As soon as it spiked to 70°C, the system began to crawl. It took a while, but I got the system properties open again & I was back at 836 Mhz.

I've since taken the cover off my PC & will probably add another fan somewhere eventually.

I hope this problem stays solved.

BBB

Chocolate Lover

The golden child partied with some chocolate last night. Lee Ann made frozen chocolate covered bananas for daycare treats this Wednesday for his birthday. (party this weekend) It's normal for her to make treats, but for this birthday so far she has made monkey-theme invitations & decorations, did a practice run of kids crafts for the party, and scheduled a maid for the day before the party. This is a new phase of Martha Stewart fever.



The monkey invitations were based on this resized PDF version from the MS party planner. I won't tell you how much time I spent getting this the exact size she wanted. :)

BBB

Garland Beer

Garland just started selling beer & wine in grocery and convenience stores. My 1st trip to Kroger in a while left me a happy man yesterday. Being from Houston, this dry-county/city crap threw me for a loop when I 1st moved here. This beer-o-plenty will take some getting used to.



The missing 12-pack of Shiner Bock is in my cart just out of view. It's already being recycled so I will have to make another visit today.

BBB

Dexham Prairie

Recently I read that one of the last prairie remnants around the Rowlett area is scheduled for destruction starting in September 2005. This past Saturday & Sunday I rose with the sun & drove the 10 or so minutes to see for myself what we are losing. The prairie is around 75 acres with an additional 25 acres of marsh & flooded hardwoods. I didn't make it to the marsh this time, but hope to before it is destroyed. A view just after sun up.



and another...



The area seems to be used mainly for biking right now and the damage seemed to be concentrated around the trails as expected.

There were many different plants thriving...



and some wildflowers in bloom.



I think this is some kind of thistle.



And lots of birds... identifications coming later.







and more flowers...







It is sad that it is going to be gone so soon. By the time my son is old enough to understand this, the subdivision will be built out & animals long gone. All in the name of progress... right???

Rest In Peace Hunter Kelly

Poor little guy. I hate the Bills, but this is still sad.

Hunter Kelly 2/14/97 - 8/05/2005

I am from Houston. If you don't know why I hate the Bills, well... let's just say they have made me cry before.

BBB

Out There

Wife is taking son to see grandma & both are getting a haircut. After about 11am, I am on my own for a few hours. I'm thinking trip to Trinity Hall by train for a few Guinness might be in order.

It was a nice morning here in North Texas if you got up to enjoy it. I was out at 6:30am taking a few pictures. Unfortunately I didn't prepare my equipment due to one too many bourbons last night. So after about 10 shots I had a dead battery. And no AAs with me for the spare pack. Amateur mistake. Oh well, I'll wash my shame away with a few Guinness. Sláinte!.

Hawk

Update: Jack Hill from the Preservation Society for Spring Creek Forest says it's a immature Red-Tailed Hawk.

Went to take some pictures at Spring Creek Forest last Sunday morning. Saw a few things, but really didn't get any decent pics. But then on the way home I drove down one of the backstreets that is surrounded on both sides by old farmland/prairie. I had the top down on the Mustang and was really just cruising for a few minutes before heading home. All of a sudden I heard a loud shriek & saw this hawk on top of a telephone pole.



I watched him for a long time and even moved a couple of times to follow him. I was hoping to get some shots of a kill, but no luck. This has to be a regular spot for him, so I'm gonna check it out. Looks to be a pretty good size fellow. This is a bit out of focus, but I like it anyway.



I took tons of pics, but most were out of focus or just too far away. He moved on me a couple of times.



Tomorrow is Friday... enjoy it and the weekend.

BBB

Sunrise

I admit this isn't today's sunrise. It was taken on May 24, 2005 outside my office in Plano. The EDS building is just on my left... if you know the area. I do not work at EDS. Get up in the morning and check out the sunrise. It has never looked so beautiful with the pollution level being so high.



The Astros won again last night which has me in a good mood. Doing thai at Jasmine today as usual. Got a busy weekend and the in-laws are coming over tonight. That's not a bad thing though... they are bringing dinner with them.

St. Swithin's Day and a JavaOne Followup

'St Swithin’s Day, if it does rain
Full forty days, it will remain
St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no more.'

courtesy Earth Calendar.

Kind of the Groundhog Day equivalent.

I'm so glad it's Friday. We are planning a trip to Trinity Hall tomorrow around lunchtime. I haven't been since St. Patrick's Day and I'm really looking forward to it. They pour the best Guinness in town. Stop in & say hi.

I wanted to post a few more pics from JavaOne. Here is another of the rest areas, this one filled with bean bags. There were people behind the screen watching the movie in reverse.



This was another JavaOne attendee who was staying in the same hotel.



The best thing about this hotel was it's bar btw. He got really drunk & hit on a lesbian one night. She let him buy her 2 drinks before she told him. He responded with "My parents would kill me if they knew I bought a woman, who isn't even a woman a drink!". The majority of the people around this bar were gay & didn't appreciate it. I just thought it was funny... I thought she might kick his ass.

There were plenty of gaming areas. Arcades games...



... and PC games ...



... and even Console games ...



The sessions were better. I really liked Bil Lewis' talk on Omniscient Debugging. He is a college professor and very dramatic.

Here he is listening for an answer he posed to the audience.



The crowd responded with the correct answer and he's basking in the glory of it. I laughed my ass off.



There is a recurring talk every year in the "Programming Puzzler" theme by Joshua Bloch and Neal Gafter formerly of Sun... now of Google. It's hilarious and informative at the same time. Here's Josh explaining something.



And Neal doing some slide work.



I spent a lot of time in the Alumni lounge with it's free drinks, snacks, wifi, workstations, etc.



Here's James Gosling & Scott McNealy hugging after Gosling was given an award.



They also give out awards for best projects and the Brazilian Healthcare system that centralizes all medical records, etc. using Java won. They showed an excellent video. She was cheered more than anyone else.



Bill Shannon, a very smart person & Sun Engineer. I've been in a conference call with him once, but didn't want to bother him. He was reading a book everytime I saw him.



From the bus window on the way back to the hotel.



This is Duke, the java mascot, being helped down the stage stairs. Ha!



The 10 Year Birthday Celebration for Java.



Scott with a Dukulele. Think ukulele but shaped like Duke.



The inevitable demo crash.



This is Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's President and Chief Operating Officer.



A shot of the 4K x 3K screen used for the General Sessions. Size according to Gosling.



And a shot of Scott McNealy, James Gosling, and John Gage.



It was a Geekfest to the Nth degree and I enjoyed it. Next year it's May 15 - 18 and I hope to take the family for some adventures.

Have a good weekend.

BBB

Where is Billy Bob?

Yes, I've been neglecting this thing... I've started several posts but never get through them. I've been to San Francisco for work & then vacation last week. (we just stayed around the house)

I did get to see the awesome Dennis Miller in SF. The JavaOne crowd wasn't too impressed though... he's a Bush supporter and most of the folks there were Dems. I'm neither.



This awesome screen was in the lobby of Moscone in SF.



This is the back... it's not a projection. It's a bunch of small screens stitched together. This was one section between the pillars... I think there were around 80 of them.




I'll post more later.

BBB

Trout Fishing on the White River

Last week we did the much anticipated fishing trip to the White River in far North Arkansas. I hated to leave the office since we were right before code cut, but I couldn't pass up a chance to fish with my Dad. The drive was fine except for the usual hour delay outside of Little Rock. During the drive we all kicked in $10 for the big fish pot. We're such big gamblers. The winner is announced below. We stayed at Sportsmans again and met the new owners. They were nice and plan lots of improvement. Here's hoping they follow through. 1st thing is 1st... must have a beer. We brought two cases and bought another five cases while on the trip. We brought back about a case. No drunk driving, not even boating. This is Jim Wheeler, one of the new owners from Colorado. Odd fellow.



The sunset the 1st night was amazing.



This is Bentley with his rod on the dock. There are signs that plainly say NO FISHING, but we just decided to ignore them this year. The new owners didn't seem to mind. The old owner Charley spent more on signs than anything else I think. I used a flash and lit him up. Should have lowered ISO, but it turned out ok.



The other guide Buzz, Dad and our guide Scott Hendon preparing to head out the 1st day. Turns out we had most of the river south of the 1st shoals to ourselves. Only Buzz & Scott could get down there... every other guide stayed above Sportsmans. I've been out there when I could count 20 boats visible. Most of the time we split up and didn't see anyone else for an hour at a time. Very nice.



Chris did something to his foot and this trip just made it worse. But he fished anyway.



Chris & Buzz getting ready to head out. His ugliness is frightening.



The guides are never in a hurry to get started on a full day trip. At this point I was ready to push Jim Wheeler off the boat dock and start the motor myself. But we finally got started.



This year the trip was only four of us. This was my Dad's 1st trip. Normally there are around 25, but the group we normally go with had a big argument and everyone dropped out. Except us... and I'm glad we didn't miss it. I've been out with a guide 10 times on that river counting this trip & these were the best 2 days by far ever. Friday was great, but Saturday was just amazing. We caught a limit of rainbows both days & more brown trout than ever. I caught my personal best 3 fish on Saturday in consecutive order. The biggest was the last fish and measured 22 3/4 inches. Not a beast, but pretty darn big for a hack like me. You're finally gonna get a chance to put a face with the blogger. Hope it's not too much of a disappointment. You'll have to scroll down for that one. This is Friday morning on the way to the 1st fishing spot.



Here's Chris, Bentley and Buzz anchored and working on some Rainbow trout. Gotta fill that live well before you can start on browns. Well, at least the 1st day.



And some Canadian Geese... they ended up by the dock later that evening.



Herons were everywhere. My 1st year I shot a whole roll of them. I'm not so fascinated anymore, but this guy flew right in front, so I figured what the heck.



I think he asked for supersize on this one.



We fished near the other boat for a while and Chris was in the Rainbows. It was hard not to be honestly.



I was worried this trip wouldn't live up to the expectations of my dad. Luckily the fishing gods did not disappoint. Here's one of Dad's brown trout.



Up close and personal... so beautiful. All of these were released.



Chris caught this brown and Buzz was demonstrating how not to hold them. Buzz is an outlaw from the word around the fish camp. I call it a fish camp... resort is a stretch beyond belief.



A brown caught by Bentley. I like the water dripping off this one.



And finally my biggest ever.



A 22 3/4" brown that fought hard and was released immediately. Well, after the quick measure. This one got me a "trophy" pin from the State of Arkansas. My dad got one too for his 20" brown. He got his, mine's in the mail.



And Bentley with Buzz holding his pot winning 24" brown trout. If we had went by weight, I would have won... but somehow we went with length. My life story. ;) This fish is or has been sick in my opinion.



That's enough for now. I still have a few more pictures to process. I also have another code delivery on Friday that I'm behind on due to taking this trip. I worked over 30 hrs in 2 days after returning from this trip to make a code delivery on Tuesday. We all worked late... most of us all night including myself.

Enjoy the weekend my friends. Hopefully I won't have to work too much.