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The First Day at School

Olaf — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:58:12 +0000

Yesterday was Balthazar’s first day of school. It started early that morning and the whole family was up for the affair. We drove him in and walked him to his class. It’s one of those “big steps” in a child’s life. I am excited about the idea of him becoming independent and beginning his formal education. He’s growing up and I look forward to all the things we’ll do together in the years to come. Amy, on the other hand, has a distinctly different take on her little baby’s first steps in the big world. Her experience was miserable as a child, and didn’t apparently get much better in later years. She hated school, and she doesn’t want Balthazar to have a hard time either. Balthazar began his journey into the world with a brave heart. I was proud of him for being so courageous in the face of the unknown – I had very few worries.

After school, Balthazar was to take a bus over to his after-school care with some friends – apparently more like 20. We knew it was a lot to manage in one day, so we agreed to pick him up early from there. He barely managed to get out some vague details about his day before he passed out completely in his car seat. The guy was worn flat-out by his adventures. It turns out his day was a mixture of fear and fun. We weren’t able to convey the amount of time he’d spend at school, though technically it was less than what he spent in pre-K and after-school before. He got scared and cried a little bit early in the day. After some lunch and recess time, it sounded like he came to better terms with it.

As parents, we hate to know that our child was upset and afraid. You’re completely helpless when they’re away and having these feelings. I guess that’s what it is that parents really get upset over when their child gains some independence. You really feel the need to continue helping them and holding their hands when obstacles arrive, but you just have to let them make a go at it themselves. You do everything you can to ensure that they’re going to do good in the world and that they’ll have every manner of protection at their disposal, then you send them out the door to see how you did. It surprised me a lot that he had an emotional break-down at school. Not that that’s unordinary by any means, I just thought that he would have such a great time.

Today is Friday and he’s off on his second day at school. As a testament to his courage, he said yesterday that he wanted to go again. Even though there were some rough spots to contend with, Balthazar has stood back up to give it another try. I believe that he’ll have done much better this time, and he may even begin doing the things that we all loved at school; making friends.

The First Camping Trip

Olaf — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:39:25 +0000

While Balthazar’s first camping trip was actually over just before 10:00pm, he did get some good exposure to camp-life and the adventures that surround it.

Balthazar has been going on about a camping trip for days now. We’re not exactly sure where he picked this up, but I couldn’t be happier. I love camping and haven’t done any since becoming a father. Camping is one of those experiences I wanted to bring to my son however, and eagerly awaited the day. As the weather hasn’t been very favorable over the last week or so, there was concern about thunderstorms. Amy also thought that it be best to spend a single night out instead of a weekend or longer. As all of this came together, we finally decided to just setup a tent in the backyard near a fire pit I built in the late winter.

It has been raining off and on over the last few days, so wood was damp and difficult to burn. He saw how difficult it was to get a fire going, and how after a while of trying, the materials had dried and caught. Amy had to go inside to cook on the conventional stove – still hot dogs, however – but eventually the fire started up and looked like it would hold.

Then it started raining. The wind came in pretty fiercely and some low, rumbling thunder could be heard. There was also some minor lightning – the horizontal type, often behind the clouds. That was enough for Amy and she went in the house. Balthazar and I stayed out to brave the storm in the tent. As we were getting in, I spotted a baby snake moving through the grass. The boy got to watch as a young Copperhead slithered around to avoid the cat and eventually went under the tent. Not a good place for it, as a four-year-old in a tent is like a bull in a china shop. He was jumping all around and rolling even though I reminded him to try and not crush the snake. I hope it got away.

The trip was over by bedtime. Balthazar wanted to go back inside just before 10:00 when I told him it was time to go to sleep. I think he was hoping he could avoid having to go to sleep more than he wanted to leave the campsite. He said he had a great time anyway.

Unfortunately, it’s now been three days and the tent remains in the backyard. It rains about once a day and leaves the tent somewhat wet by the time I get home to do something about it. Oh well. At least it’s getting good and aired out for the first time in 10 years or so.

DiY PC: Antec Nine Hundred (Case)

Olaf — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:00:15 +0000

I’m in the process of building out a new custom PC for the house – the first one in quite a while now. Contrary to what you might think, as a technology guy I’m usually a little late for getting things up-to-date around the house. As such, I’m replacing an old Intellistation dual-proc Pentium 3 XEON. It sounds phat, but trust me, it’s showing its age.

I tried once to just hit this project with one blow-out purchase and be done. Just as I was ready to do it, something else came up that took priority over discretionary money. As such, I’m going the incremental route and starting with the components that are least likely to change over a short period of time.

This post begins my adventure in building out what should be a great rig.

The case decision has always been a hard one for me. I have a memorable scar on my right thumb where I was attacked by a sub-$50 tower case back in 1996. I was attempting to push out metal break-outs in the case’s rear slots with my thumb. It was difficult at first, but when the razor-sharp edges of the slot sliced off a third of my thumb’s width, it slid in easily. Er – that wasn’t the intention, however. Some-odd stitches later (three through the thumbnail – ouch!), I was ready to get back to work on the case. I used a Clark’s head screwdriver and some pliers to finish off those slots. As fun as the ER visit was to break up my day, I was not entertained by the next case-catastrophe. I wanted to test out the case power and front L.E.D.’s before I began installing components. Holding firmly to the exposed metal from the case’s chassis, I pushed the large power button on the front bezel. Oh vengeful gods! 110 volts coarse through me, there’s a loud crack, and smoke boils up from behind the bezel. Unshaken (actually I was literally shaken, but still determined), I unplugged the power supply and reset the breaker that had tripped. When I investigated the power switch and back-side of the bezel, I found that it had welded itself onto the case. Having the equipment (a hammer and screwdriver), I gingerly broke the weld (gingerly, for an ogre). Turns out, the case’s sharp edges had struck again. During shipment – possibly before – the switch leads had been sliced and exposed. Unbelievably, I replaced the switch and went on.

With the exception of some minor cuts (again from the chassis edges), I experienced no further catastrophes with that case. It wasn’t until I had done some fancy coupling of two power supplies with one switch and electrified the entire case while the system was on that I finally ditched it. Good times.

What this painful experience taught me was that I would no longer spare any expense when it came to cases. Disregarding the beautiful custom cases out there, I seek out full tower cases with lots of room for hard drives, bays, and plenty of cooling options. As you might guess, I also check the status of the chassis edges – deburred or folded are the terms I believe they’re using now. I also look at cases that generally don’t include power supplies (PSU). Included PSU’s are probably cheaply made and may have suffered damage within the case during shipment or installation.

This brings me to my case of choice, the Antec Nine Hundred. It reminds me of the Spartan 300, but has nothing to do with that. My first choice was actually a Gigabyte (3D Aurora 570) tower, but it didn’t go on super sale when the Nine Hundred did. I chased the deal for a little while on the net where it bounced around from site to site at $89.99. I missed the deal on ZipZoomFly where shipping is generally free and got it at Outpost (Fry’s) – there I had to pay shipping and tax, but it was a far better deal than $130+ you see it elsewhere.

As I build out the actual system, I’ll be sure and add my feelings on this case. Until then, here are the spec’s directly from Antec’s site:

Unique Top mounted 200mm TriCool exhaust fan to cool the hottest system
Perforated front bezel for maximum air intake
Two front loaded HDD cages for up to 6 hard disk drives
The HDD cages act as air ducts to take air in more efficiently. Optional middle 120mm fan bracket to cool the hottest graphic cards or CPU
Two 120mm TriCool blue LED front fans to cool hard disk drives
Window side panel comes with an optional 120mm fan mount for maximum VGA cooling
Top mounted I/O ports for easy access
Top tray for your MP3 player, digital camera, etc.
Power supply mounts at the bottom of the case (power supply not included)
Advanced cooling system:
- 1 top 200mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 1 rear 120mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 2 front 120mm special black TriCool blue LED fans with 3-speed switch control to cool HDDs
- 1 side (optional) 120mm fan to cool graphic cards
- 1 middle (optional) 120mm fan to cool CPU or graphic cards
9 Drive Bays:
- External 3 x 5.25″; Internal 6 x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 6 x 5.25″; Internal 3x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 9 x 5.25″
Motherboard: Fits micro and standard ATX
7 Expansion Slots
Top I/O
Power & reset button with blue LED
2 x USB 2.0
1 x IEEE 1394
Audio In and Out
Case Weight Net: 18.52 lbs, Gross: 24.36 lbs
Case Dimensions: 19.4″ H x 18.4″ D x 8.1″ W

$105.78 through outpost.com (Tax & Shipping incl.)

The Disney World Report

Olaf — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:54:01 +0000

Disney World Vacation Photos

There’s a place on this Earth where reality fails, excitement is on tap, and prices are only limited by your imagination. Walt Disney’s Disney World creation is the most spectacular piece of manufactured tourism in the world. It’s also one of the only places that truly caters to the whole family, thereby nailing such a broad audience that it’s pure marketing genius. It would make even Microsoft proud.

We took a vacation to Orlando recently courtesy Amy’s parents. It was their pleasure, and gift, to get Balthazar down to see the big Disney castle. We stayed on the grounds at Port Orleans – Riverside, which was a sort of “turn of the century” styled shipwright and ferry yard. At 2,048 rooms total, it was one of the largest resort complexes Disney has to offer. Riverside is a short walk from the French Quarter, the other side of Port Orleans resort. The rooms were nice enough. Nothing immaculate, and they’re all pretty small. However, it was perfectly adequate for a family of three and we did little more than sleep there anyway. On location was a restaurant set to the tune of an old shipwright. There’s a boat skeleton suspended overhead, tools on the walls, and framed blueprints for classic paddle boats. The food was decent, but the price was disproportionate. At Disney, you pay a premium for the atmosphere. That’s an understanding you must carry with you at all times throughout an adventure at this famous vacation spot.

At four years old, Balthazar was just at an appropriate age to introduce him to Disney World. He was sold at the site of Disney’s magic castle right as you turn the street onto Main Street as you work your way between turn-of-the-century styled shopping stores. We could have gone home then having captured his awe in one single visual blow. What I learned (quickly) about young children at a park this size is that it’s way more than they can grasp. The magnificence of the place was lost to someone so small and focused on the now. I first noticed it at a playground near our resort in Port Orleans. He was so excited to see this awesome playground – he could have spent the whole day there. Since the time we told him just two days before we set out on our journey to Disney World, he had been excited at the prospect without fully understanding what it was. Now as we walked around the resort and settled into our new surroundings, he began associating all the sites with Disney World. The playground became the most exciting thing to do (until we came upon the resort-class swimming pool) and was so the object of the trip. No amount of explanation of what awaited could pull him away from the now. It happened again when we went swimming in the pool. This was truly a first for Balthazar. Swimming is something he’s only had experience with in the lake near our house. This new adventure became more important than the playground and replaced the association with what Disney World was. So after days of new experiences, each bigger than the one before, I imagine his mind had trouble grasping the hugeness of what he was in. Regardless of his comprehension, he had a really good time! He has tried out lots of new experiences and I’m very proud of him for that. He was actually really good on the trip despite the stressful and anxious situations he was dropped into. He rode a roller coaster – a mistake on his account, but one that he decided to take on. Needless to say, he didn’t speak much on it afterwards. The simple explanation was “it made my tummy sick.” I can tell those of you who are planning a similar trip that the other parks (MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, etc.) don’t match up well to the younger children like the Magic Kingdom. It was, by far, his favorite. He liked some individual things at the other parks, but we always went back to the Magic Kingdom to do the Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and Aladdin’s Flying Carpet rides in the end. He also really dug the fireworks display at Magic Kingdom, but so did we! Disney really knows how to put on a show – seriously some of the best fireworks displays I’ve ever seen.

As for the adults, well we had a really great time too! The excitement, Florida sunshine, and abundance of walking rendered all of us napping around midday everyday. It turns out, the very best times to hit the parks are right at opening and later in the evening before closing. Most people are suckers and stay throughout the day, which has them leaving the park before dark with exhaustion. Lines are shorter, the evenings are cooler, and you catch the closing ceremonies, which are always amazing. I can’t imagine the people that do this sort of thing every year, but I did enjoy it well enough to make it a point to visit again when Balthazar is older. There truly is something for everyone at the magical kingdom of Walt Disney World.

Required Knowledge:

Stay at a resort: driving is troublesome, costly, and the resorts offer free transportation to everything Disney.
Visit parks at their opening, go eat lunch, nap, swim, and come back around 6 or 7:00pm for dinner. You’ll avoid the midday Florida sun and longer lines.
Create an itinerary. The parks have mismatched opening and closing times; some parks open earlier or stay open later on certain days. Also look at their special events. If you aren’t that interested in the event, avoid the park for that day!
Watch the Disney-sponsored television in your hotel at least once at the beginning of your trip. It gives you great insight into the things to see at each park.
Eat at Pleasure Island. Pleasure Island hosts many restaurants, fun atmosphere, and more proportionate prices than the much-hyped counterparts within the parks.
Expect to pay a lot for food and dine accordingly. There is no real option for snacks within the park; 5 adults and a 4-year-old will run you upwards of $50-60 and get you more food than you probably expected. Breakfast will be $50.00 at a minimum, lunch around $80.00, and dinner around $150.00 before liquor. $200.00 a day for a family’s eating budget would be conservative, but probably doable.
Stay for fireworks at the Magic Kingdom at least once – watch them from the Flying Dumbo ride location.
Put your kid(s) in the “Talk with Crush the Turtle” experience at Epcot.
Internet access in your hotel will cost you $10.00/24-hour period, but you can hit some Disney sites for free.
If you have a 4-year-old, take the stroller rental option rather than brining along your own (or choosing to carry him). It’s $10.00/day (one pass works for all parks) and worth every penny in convenience.
Try not to buy toys…they’re mostly all Jackson killers.
The Polynesian Resort has some really great food. It’s worth the money.
Birds will take your food.
Bring good walking shoes (surely you know this)!
Coffee sucks at Disney World. The best I had was at Kona, (one of) the Polynesian Resort’s restaurants. It’s a blend of Kona and dirty water. At Tony’s, I added a shot of espresso to a cup of coffee for some boldness – it worked, but at great cost.

And oh yeah – I shouldn’t have to tell you people this, but please be a little considerate to your fellow humans! I can’t tell you how many Disney tourists are real asshats.

Kingdom of Loathing

Olaf — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 03:53:16 +0000

I’ve not written about it before, but the Kingdom of Loathing (KoL) is the best piece of crap since Legend of the Red Dragon (LoRD) way back in BBS days. KoL is chocked full of PHP and MySQL goodness to bring forth one of the more entertaining web games out there. Your a stick figure in a ridiculous world of stick-like objects and other drawings by two-year-olds. The currency is meat and you may indeed wear a meat helmet. You can engage in PvP or simply quest your heart’s desires in the places like “South of the Border” where you most likely be attacked by a Waretaco and be rewarded with uncooked chorizo. To compete with the more financially-backed games such as World of Warcraft or Everquest 2, there are more socially acceptable forms of adventure in this game too. You may learn to mix drinks in KoL, where drinking is generally a good way to get further in the game and boost your stats while you’re at it. Or send you on your way in a drunken journey to flail about and make a general mockery of yourself. You could learn to cook, smith (yes, with meat), and ‘glue’ objects together – again, with meat. The bounty of humor is unending in the Kingdom of Loathing. I’m on my second character, the first having been deleted due to activity. Hopefully, I can keep Braunschweiger alive to reach KoL Ascension, whatever the hell that is. I just reached level 7 tonight, so things are on the up-and-up.

Adventures in Manhattan

Olaf — Sat, 20 May 2006 03:54:47 +0000

I spent the greater part of this week in Newark, NJ where we have two offices – the other in Jersey City on The Hudson River. It was my first time to New Jersey and I got the opportunity to visit Manhattan for another first. I was prepared for more dangers than actually existed. The days of Newark noogies and Manhattan manhandling must be mostly over. My Spidey Sense didn’t tingle in the city much at all – I’m generally on heightened alert around homeless people, but that isn’t much different from Atlanta.

For those of you considering venturing forth into the Big Apple, I must recommend Casa Bella’s “little ears” pasta. It was fantastic! We also had some sushi from Sushi Samba 7 that stood for a new bar which all others must compare. While expensive, I can honestly say the taste was worth it. Between major meals, we managed to grab smaller meals of Grey’s Papayas (hot dogs) and Ray’s Pizza. All things I can easily recommend to anyone.

Something I recommend you avoiding in Newark is pushing a truck for 7 blocks late at night. A co-worker faced some great embarrassment when he promptly ran out of gas after offering a ride to our hotel. In appropriate southern hospitality, another co-worker and I offered to push to the nearest gas station. That was the most exhausting excercise I’ve experienced in quite some time. I thought my legs would fail me. Not only did we make it, but we spent the rest of the night walking through Manhattan after a quick clean-up.

While I had a good time watching people and eating great food, I would love to get the family out there and enjoy the more touristy aspects of the city with them. One thing I did that could only have happened with my co-workers was to sit in a 152 year-old bar while they gulped round after round of beer. The bar is an amazing slice of history for the New York City area and I was pleased to have experienced that.

Revisiting D&D

Olaf — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:55:00 +0000

Saturday ended at 3:30am Sunday morning. I played D&D for the first time since the 80′s with a group of friends. They’re old pro’s, but I have some catching up to do. We played all day and night, so that’s a good way to get a refresher course. We didn’t actually have time for any combat, so it was primarily just role-playing. The game was fantastic! It’s vastly different from the games played in my early days. As one would imagine, the stories are more mature and the depth is amazing. The Game Master (GM/DM) really has to keep his head straight the whole time. Quite a task, especially considering the detailed storyline these guys have followed for over a year now.

Since getting ready to play this a couple of weeks ago, I’ve noticed my vocabulary mutating in my head. I say my head because it hasn’t ebbed out onto my tongue and spilled onto the ears’ of others *yet*. I keep thinking about situations I’m in in terms of DC checks. Criticals, modifiers, and situational effects keep gnawing at my consciousness. That will either fade with time or leak into reality where I will become the biggest dork ever!

d20

Olaf — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:44:18 +0000

D&D is back in my life. When last played, it was referred to as AD&D, which is now quite archaic. I played Dungeons & Dragons through Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but hung it up when my brother did. That was 20 or more years ago and I’m just revisiting a fond childhood memory. It turns out that the good folks of Wizards of the Coast bought the rights to D&D and made some changes per the requests of fans. They’re up to revision 3.5 now and I understand it’s quite good. I feel like such a noob getting started. It’s been so long I don’t remember the intricacies of playing. Role-playing I understand, but it’s all the crazy forumlae for determining fate and fortune that I don’t remember. There are also so many new monsters and spells and such. Dice were the first step, and I’ve enjoyed rolling my first character already.

Just One More Level

Olaf — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 13:21:45 +0000

I got to sleep this morning a bit after 3:00. It could have been a little closer to 4:00 than I’m admitting to, but that just sounds idotic to me. I was awake all night engaged heavily in a hopeful search for more experience, money, and adventure. No – I’m not a successful entrepreneur, I’m a gamer. World of Warcraft is an involving activity. I’m really enjoying it, but man! I’m losing a lot of sleep here.

1,200 Years of Perseverance

Olaf — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 14:35:57 +0000

1,200 years ago an acorn pushed a pale tendril into the sunlight to begin its adventure. Today, the resulting ancient Live Oak Tree resides partly sumberged in 5-feet of water in Louisiana. A tree like this might live a couple of weeks in these conditions; Oak Trees drown rather quickly in floods. However, the Louisiana flood is different in that it’s filled with toxic waste and bacterial infestations. It could be the end for this great Oak and its kin, and that disheartens me greatly. It reminds me to think on the ones that can’t protect themselves in Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic wake.