House!

Closed on the house and got the keys today - Quadrant also gave a pair of fluffy towels and a $50 Macy's gift card along with the six (!) keys.

More later, it was a really, really long day, but I wanted to share.

Tomorrow

Well, tomorrow if all goes according to plan I will sign the paperwork and do final inspection on the new house.

I'm having a hard time absorbing all the changes this is going to make. OK, I've moved before. Many times, in fact, and I've lived in my current apartment for over two years, which makes it the second-longest I've lived in one place since I moved to Pittsburgh in 1997. (Total of eight residences in that time, not counting the time I lived on a friend's floor for a couple of weeks, or intervals living at 'home' back in Boston.)
Maybe its the money? This is, by two orders of magnitude, the largest chunck of debt (that's how I view the mortgage) I've ever assumed.
Perhaps it is moving from the rent to own catagory of living.
Perhaps it is that I will be living in the sub-urbs again for the first time... since I moved to Pittsburgh in 1997.
Hmm. Sensing a pattern here.

Perhaps I've just been a wanderer, a short-timer, a person of no fixed address, for a decade and I've come to view it as the natural state of life. I've never had anything I couldn't move. A computer? No problem, pick it up and carry it. A big TV? Well, friends help you move (real friends help you move bodies.) A car? Heck, you can use that to move other things!

A house?

Er... not so much.

Land?

Well, pretty much by definition, no. Earthquakes have trouble upsetting surveyed land boundaries. Moving companies don't even answer questions about them.

Enchanted is Enchanting

Yesterday I saw Enchanted. Once again, going in with limited expectations pays off.

If you are looking for a light comedy with some truly excellent acting and minimal plot to confuse you, this movie is a good choice.

The part animated/part real shtick works very well, and provides a wonderful opportunity for Disney to poke fun at its own animated movies.

I imagine the director must have gotten a little tired of saying, "OK, Patrick in this scene I want you to be bewildered and in disbelief, and Amy I want you to be incredibly sweet and naive," but we do get some actual character development (remember it is a light comedy - you can probably predict most of the character development within 30 seconds of meeting each character).

I'm a sucker for a good "Lassie" (or anti-Lassie) moment (i.e.: "Arf! Arf! Bark!" "What's that Lassie? You say three miners are trapped in the abandoned coal mine, one of them has a broken leg, and the water is rising to drown them?" or anti-Lassie "Arf! Bark! [Highly explicit and clear pantomime indicating the direction the lost child went]" "I think he's trying to tell us something." "Yeah, he's hungry, right boy?"), and Enchanted has a chipmunk that goes in my personal Disney hall of fame with the Sugarbowl from The Sword in the Stone and the Magic Carpet from Aladdin.

Add in some catchy songs (though I'm not sure how well the sound track would hold up on its own), and you've got yourself a movie.

I was strongly reminded of Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! where Carrot comes to the city, or perhaps more accurately Men At Arms, where Angua muses on the odds that Carrot will burst into song and the random street people will suddenly demonstrate a flair for choreography as part of his number.

Optimist, Pessimist, and Me

The Optimist: The glass is half full.

The Pessimist: The glass is half empty.

The Engineer: The glass has a factor of safety of two with respect to water storage.

Me: You realize the glass is cracked and is dripping water all over the table, right?

How does the glass look to you right now?

Racoon Eyes

I looked in the mirror today and noticed, as I often do, that I have dark circles under my eyes.

The problem is that today I tried to remember the last time I hadn't had dark circles under my eyes... and I couldn't.

I wonder how much sleep it would take to get rid of them? Or are they permanent now? When WAS the last time they weren't there?

Part of the problem is that my glasses tend to hide them; I only notice when I look in the mirror without my glasses. Which isn't very often.

Illuminati

Illuminati is a card game from Steve Jackson games. I played it for the first time Saturday night, and it was really fun.

You control a secret society bent on world domination. Very little stands in your way... except for the other secret societies bent on the same thing. You don't fight each other directly, but you're all trying to take over the same power blocks - ranging from the Mafia to the US Post Office to the Trekkies.

I played the Bavarian Illuminati in the first game, going against the Servants of Cthulhu (SoC), the Bermuda Triangle, and the Society of Assassins. My early control of the Mafia and the Loan Sharks, along with the Phone Company, gave me an edge, and halfway through I almost won; but I failed to use my special ability in an attack and wound up loosing control of the Mafia on the rebound. I slunk off into the shadows as the other three battled for first place. As all four groups closed in on their victory conditions, I grabbed the Democrats and used their power to snatch the Orbital Mind Control Lasers for the win.

In the second game my performance was... less impressive. I drew the Bavarians again on the initial deal, and the player who'd been the SoC got THEM again, so we did a re-deal and I got the SoC. Sigh. One of the first groups out was the Federal Reserve, and everyone made a play for it including me, but the Network managed to hang onto it. the UFOs made good use of their mystery, and the Assassins (also in play again) built up slowly but steadily. Sadly by turn three I had failed to grab any groups and was thus eliminated. Even watching the game was amusing - the UFOs had a rough time (their groups kept getting taken away by the Network), but the Assassins managed to pull off the win, despite a close call from the UFO - their victory was foiled by a special card.

http://www.sjgames.com/illuminati/

A Colonel Announcement

Well, you can make a General Announcement, and a Major Announcement, so its logical enough...

Anyway, just a note: I almost invariably reply to comments that people make on my blog entries.

I mention this because very often I ask a counter question, and it almost never gets answered.

Google now has a box you can check when you leave a comment to be notified when future comments are posted, so, check it!

That is all.

We now return you to your previously scheduled reality, already in progress.

Why I'm an Engineer

Today we finally built our flight test unit. Seeing it go together, and without any major problems at that, was really cool. It reminded me why I sit in a windowless, chilly building with a group of people most of whom I would not freely associate with. I do it because every so often, I get to see the things I helped design turn into real hardware, with a real purpose.

Have you hugged an engineer today?

Feverish or drunk?

I have come to the conclusion that having a fever is in many respects like being drunk, or some stage thereof.

In my 101+ degree haze yesterday and before, I noted that I had a somewhat lowered set of inhibitions, particularly on speech.

The fact that I was simultaneously light headed, apathetic, sleepy, etc. contributed significantly to my conclusion. Oh, and the headache and chills brought to mind other stages of alcohol overdose.

There is, however, nothing like being called two hours after you called in sick because they really can't do without you for a day.

Nor, in another way, is there anything like getting yelled at twice for something that happened while you weren't there.

And this is too important not to pass on

The US Supreme Court may soon hear a case about the 2nd Amendment.

A Washington DC security guard is claiming that the city acted unconstitutionally when it denied him a handgun permit. The city claims that despite spending over a decade as the murder capitol of the country that its extremely tough firearms restrictions are necessary.

FOX coverage here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311276,00.html

The court hasn't heard a case on this issue since 1939, according to the article, and ruled then based on a technicality, not the hot question of what or who constitutes a militia.

My own take is quite simple - the citizens of the US, in the absence of locally organized militia (the National Guard does NOT count since they can be federalized without local approval), constitute a de facto militia and thus have the right to keep and bear arms. Remember, that "well regulated militia" is NECESSARY to the preservation of a free state. One way or another, we clearly need it. If the local governments do not organize such a militia, it is the duty of the citizens to do so, and the state has no right to take away their means of doing so effectively (i.e. limiting the right to bear arms).

To the inevitable challenge that "more guns means more murders" I will say right now: IMO a partially armed society is the most dangerous form, and it is far, far too late for the US to become an unarmed society. That leaves the status quo, and a fully armed society (which I'm not in favor of either, but which I have no constitutional basis to object to at the present time) as the only options.

Also, I'll throw this out there. In my time in EMS I saw a number of gunshot victims. Three stand out in my mind:
1. A drunk who grabbed a police officer's side arm during a fight and was promptly shot with her backup weapon. (DOA, and, forgive the dark humor, a really nifty X-ray.)
2. A child who was shot with her father's .22 by her younger brother - the father had left the firearm in a drawer and had dropped the magazine but not checked the chamber.
3. A, I believe the term is "suspect", who was the victim of a drive-by shooting.

IMO, #1, the guy got what was coming to him, and only disarming our police (anyone in favor of this, please speak up?) would have prevented it. #2 was a terrible accident, which would never have happened if the father had followed firearm rule #1: any firearm is loaded until proven otherwise. #3 was a criminal activity - I somehow doubt the shooter had a PA concealed carry permit. I know the victim didn't, and he was carrying as well.

So, ask yourself this question: what law would have prevented any of these three shootings? The .22 had been in the drawer for years - it seemed the father had actually forgotten about it. He's the only one who would conceivably turn in the offending weapon, and he's not likely to have done so even given a total recall on handguns simply because he'd forgotten it.

OK, this is too funny to not pass on

http://davies.lohudblogs.com/files/2007/11/110907davies.jpg

In other news I'm sick (again!!), the Boeing Everett plant lost all heating yesterday for several hours and is still so cold today that I'm wearing a thermal layer, shirt, sweater, AND jacket and I'm still cold (OK, I've got a fever too, which isn't helping), and our schedule continues to slide like skates on slick ice.

A Toast

My friends, to absent companions.

I wrote the verse below some years ago, remembering a day now nine years gone.

Some will be remembered. Some will be cut down.
Some among their comrades lie. Others all alone.
My friend is not remembered. Her name is on no wall.
No medal struck for her. No tales they'll ever tell.
But wherever tales of bravery are told,
And Heroes praised by name.
She ever will look down and smile;
Her deeds shall live with theirs.
At Meggido they will all stand tall.
Legend - unknown - side by side.
Rally to the single call:
Follow me!

WGA Support

Two links to spread around if you're in support of the WGA strike:

http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/

Unofficial blog by several strike captains and other WGA members. No one writes like the professionals. :-)

http://www.petitiononline.com/WGA/petition.html

Sign the petition to show your support for the WGA.

Grey's Anatomy

Zarth.

I was really, really, really hoping George and Izzie would work out. I didn't acknowledge even to myself how much I wanted them to work out until that last shot before the fade to black last night. Hopefully this is because my subconscious recognizes that it is a TV show, George and Izzie aren't real and there is no hidden message or divine guidance in the show meant for me.

Regardless, I was really upset and disappointed.

Usually when I've been disappointed with Grey's it has been because I wanted to walk onto the set with a piece of medical/rescue equipment and say, "No, THIS is how you do it!" Probably never more so than the episode with the pole through two people - sweet Azel, don't your rescue trucks carry hacksaws? We had several different ones on ours. Yeah, you might cut them a little bit, but it is your job as a paramedic/rescue tech to deliver the patient prone, supine, recumbent, or sitting. Walking may be acceptable in unusual cases, and babies may be carried/held by family members who are holding it together. Otherwise, no more than one patient to a stretcher.

All episode last night, I kept thinking: you're trying too hard. Which isn't really surprising, since they both, for their own reasons, really need this to have been the right choice. I kept hoping they'd relax, and it would be good. Maybe not great - great takes time, IME. But, good. Comforting, and healing. They both deserve some happiness after all they've been through. (Fiance dead, baby has cancer, father dead...)

And at the end, for a moment, they fooled me into thinking they had finally relaxed, and it had been good. That was a really incredible piece of acting by both of them, BTW - watch their expressions. The actors are playing someone who is trying very hard to act like it was great, but how it really was starts to leak through, and... it was terrible. And they're both crushed by the fact that it was terrible, even more than they were embarrassed about some of their prior experiments.

Well, we get an episode next week, and probably for a week or two after that. But with Shonda on strike (and I fully support Shonda's decision and respect it, but Zarth I want this season's story arc to get written, not dropped!), I have this horrible feeling we're going to get broken off with no clue what's going to happen.

Like Firefly, ending just as the arc was really starting. Like Crusade, ending right before the real arc started.

Unexpected gifts

Today I was given an IAM 751 pen - which I put a "Test Use Only" stick on so I could carry it :-). (For those who don't know, non-IAM folks aren't allowed to carry parts, with the exception of test parts which must be marked "Test Use Only." Its a union thing.)

Someone also left a small fuzzy blue thing with two plastic eyes on my desk - the black-disk-in-clear-bubble type often used for hand puppets. It looks like a small tribble with eyes. I have no idea who put it there (or similar ones on the desks of several but not all of the people around here), or why. All I know is that it is copyright 2005 by Popcap games of Seattle, WA, and was made in China.

I think it is a Chinese spy trying to steal the secrets of the 787. The joke's on him - I don't have any of the secrets of the 787!

Well, I do, but I'm not allowed to talk about that.

We were told at an all-hands meeting that we are supposed to take the Thanksgiving holidays off, so I will get a little break from the 45% OT. Of course, they also strongly hinted that we will not get all of the Winter holidays off.

WGA Strike

Well, in general I think strikes today are overused. Granted, managers and executives are monstrously overpaid. Granted, they almost invariably think short term while unions tend to think long term. Still, a strike isn't good for anyone.

But... sometimes it is still the right thing to do.

I'm a big fan of Grey's Anatomy, and with creator/producer/writer Shonda on the picket line, it is going to be a miserable season unless the strike ends quickly (not likely).

The WGA isn't really asking for much - they want 8 cents a DVD instead of 4 (the studio's profit? About $10 per DVD.). They want some residuals for internet distribution instead of what they currently get: nothing. That's right, all those podcasts and internet broadcasts put no money into the pockets of the people who's creativity gave birth to them in the first place.

This seems like a reasonable demand to me; if your TV show is caulously and stupidly cancelled after one season, but is a hit on re-runs and is still being showed 10 years later, you're entitled to more than just one season's paycheck. Most writers spend more time out of work than working; residuals, royalties in any other trade, keep them going to write again.

OK, I'm prejudiced. My sister's a writer and I'm in the intellectual property business myself (engineer, remember?).

The internet, however, seems to me like it is only going to grow. Personal media players are becoming as common as cell phones - in some cases they ARE cell phones. Digital storage of movies and TV shows has already begun, and as data storage continues to become more dense and cheap at some point the DVD is going to fade, just like VHS tapes have. Sure, you can still buy VHS tapes, and VCRs. However, the DVD standard is now over a decade old. In the computer world, that's the same as saying obsolete. I can store a movie on a thumb drive already, which is easier to carry around and MUCH easier to play a movie off of. I don't need to watch Grey's Anatomy on TV; it is simulcast over the web - and Shonda doesn't get any money if I watch it that way. How long before that becomes the standard, not the exception?

No, the writers have a legitimate demand, and they are fighting for the economic survival of their trade, not just themselves as individuals.

Go WGA!

Voted!

I voted today (via mail-in ballot, the only type the county is currently using).

I consider it a little odd that in several cases "non-partisan" candidates were endorsed by the Democratic party. Doesn't that kindof make them Democratic candidates?

A few interesting ballot measures, one for public transit (poorly worded enough that I wasn't sure whether to vote for it or not), and one requiring the state to do something it seems to already be doing with regard to referendums on taxes. I'm still not sure what was going on with that one.

I'm always dissapointed when I see an office with only one candidate. I mean, really, what kind of election is that? How does that make the person feel? "Well, you were better than having no one in the office." And, seriously, no one else wanted the job?

Star Wars

Last night I watched Episode IV for the umpteenth time.

I tend to think of Ep IV, V, and VI not in terms of plot, but in terms of the lasting nature of their special effects. In a lot of Sci-Fi movies, you can look at their special effects and you immediately know they are fake. They just look fake.

In Star Wars, quite of lot of the SFX still look real. The planets, the spaceships, even some of the aliens look like real planets, real spaceships, real aliens. I look at the Imperial Star Destroyer gliding past the top of the screen and it looks like a ship, not a model.

A lot of that reality, I think, comes from the design. The ships look like they were engineered, not slapped together purely from imagination with unobtainium materials and magic engines.

This comes out most clearly, I think, in the 'scramble' montage when the rebel fighters are about to launch their attack on the Death Star. The pilots are shuttled to their ships by little carts, and climb access ladders to get into their ships. Ground crews detach hoses, hand the pilots their helmets, and in general look like ground crews should. All too often in Sci-Fi the pilots just appear in their cockpits, and you often look at them and wonder how on earth (or Mars, or Barsoom) they got in there. In Star Wars, they show us.

I think ILM deserves a lot of credit, and my hat remains off to them for the original series.

787 Static Test Rig

Many if not most engineering, myself among them, enjoy breaking things. We frequently defend this as a professional necessity - after all, if we don't test to destruction, how do we know that the things we design won't fail in a dangerous fashion, or if they are over engineered?

Today I got to look over - and climb on - the 60 foot tall, several million pound, test rig that will be used to break the 787. Or, rather, to ensure that the airplane won't break under conditions it is supposed to survive.

There are a number of engineers who've been working towards this series of tests - still months away - for years. Breaking a commercial airplane is probably the ultimate in test engineer coolness, and I must admit that I'd be quite happy to work for half a decade in order to sit in their control room (a lexan-protected trailer several stories off the ground inside the main factory; a building on a building inside another building) for that test sequence.

Roman Auxiliaries

A Roman legion contained or had attached a number of allied troops, organized into their own cohorts with similar equipment to the regulars. Here is a century of these troops, represented at 6 men to 1. The centurion in the back is from the HaT Punic Wars Roman Command set, the troops are from the HaT Roman Auxiliaries set, and the magnetic bases are from Litko.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=HAT&code=8051

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=HAT&code=8065

http://www.litkoaero.com/mag_bots.php