Mike's Page - Misc

Katie, we miss you

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:27:02 -0400

Katie Reider, 1978 - 2008

Katie is part of my family, and it hurts so much that her fight had to end this way.

Keep her singing in your heart.

Peace.

Links: Details, More of the Story, Beautiful Photos of Katie

Credit or Debit???

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:30:51 -0500

Please tell me why the credit/debit card producers cannot put a bit on their cards to let systems automatically determine if the card is a debit or credit card? What a waste of my time and the employee's time to ask me this question over and over again.

Buy my Saturn Vue

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:40:02 -0400

My 2003 Saturn Vue is for sale. Buy it!

Update 2008-01-26: Sold!

Vote on the New SC License Plate

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:43:46 -0400

Apparently South Carolina is letting people vote online for the design of the new license plate. I think that's a neat idea, but I'm sort of disappointed with the three designs. Two of the designs feature a centered palmetto tree, just like the current one, but I like the current one better than either of those. The other design is the state flag tucked into the corner of the plate. It looks decent but I can see that one getting covered up by plate frames. My vote goes to the palmetto tree at sunrise/sunset, but I'd be happy to keep my current palmetto tree plate.

Update 2007-08-28: Looks like they picked the plate that I voted for (PDF warning). I still like the current plate better, and I don't care for the cheesy .com advertisement on the new plate. Plus, the new plate will aggravate SC Gamecock fans as it leans toward Clemson colors!

Guitar Chord Matcher

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:57:54 -0400

Today I was trying to figure out the chords in a song (Katie Reider's awesome "Slowing Down for the Silence"). I figured out a couple chords, but was having trouble guessing some of the others. So I whipped up this little web application. You tell it a chord in your song and it will tell you all the major keys where you can find that chord. Using that knowledge, you can try the other chords in the key and see if they fit the song you're playing. I'm pretty sure Katie's song is in D major.

Enjoy!

The Chickadee Song

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:02:26 -0400

I wrote a song!

My oldest son loves to sing this song. It's dedicated to all the Carolina chickadees outside our windows. Here it is, complete with guitar chords:

G            C            D                           G
Chicka-deee, chicka-deee, chicka chicka chicka chicka dee!

G                      C
Flying down the street looking for a treat,

D                       G
maybe he'll stop at our feeder to eat!

G            C            D                           G
Chicka-deee, chicka-deee, chicka chicka chicka chicka dee!

It's not much, but maybe it'll lead to greater things!

Wikipedia Game

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:59:26 -0400

Here's a goofy game you can play with Wikipedia. Try to get to the topic you want by starting from the Main Page. It only really works if you know a good bit about your subject, unless you're lucky enough for your topic to be directly linked from the Main Page!

For example, yesterday I thought I'd look at the page for Counting Crows, to see if they had a new album yet. I started at the Main Page. They don't keep a history of this page for some reason, but on March 17, there was a mention about the element Californium. I seemed to recall that element had something to do with the University of California at Berkeley. So I clicked into the element and sure enough, Berkeley is mentioned. I was pretty sure that was the school for the Cal. Bears football team, and I also recall seeing the Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz present at some of those games on TV. So I followed the link to Berkeley, and from there I tried the alumni list. Duritz is listed there as attending, but not graduating. That page also contains the direct link to Counting Crows, my goal. So I found the Counting Crows in four links from the Main Page.

Today I wanted to see the article on the Cincinnati Reds. The Main Page had Cosmonaut, which shares a page with Astronaut. From there, the List of Astronauts, then Neil Armstrong, then Univeristy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, and finally the Reds.

Wikipedia is so linked up you could probably find any topic from the Main Page eventually. Extra points if you can do it without using "What Links Here" in the toolbox.

FishTank i svenska

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 16:54:26 -0500

I recently added a Swedish translation to my FishTank calculator. I don't speak Swedish, but this summer I became interested in the Swedish band Kent from hearing them on Pandora. Check it out, it's good stuff. Through their music I've absorbed a tiny bit of the language. I found a referrer to this post on a Swedish aquarium forum and I decided to give a translation a try. There are lots of language tools on the web, and I made much use of this English-Swedish dictionary, some of the Swedish Wikipedia, and a little of online translators.

I'm sure there are errors in my translation, so feel free to correct me if you find one! I enjoy learning about other languages, so if you'd like to see FishTank in another language, let me know.

No Fishing Poles!

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:20:33 -0400

I'm going to take my son to the Georgia Aquarium soon. I was browsing their website and came across this tidbit (emphasis mine):

For the safety of our guests, everyone must go through the security checkpoints before entering the Aquarium. No guns, knives, lighters, matches or fishing poles are permitted inside Georgia Aquarium.

Well, I'm pretty disappointed about this, because I was planning on catching one of those whale sharks to bring home!

How about Utility Conduits for Residential Areas?

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Fri, 26 May 2006 17:37:17 -0400

Back in January I wrote this on a Slashdot article about how underground utility infrastructure is frequently damaged by construction and repair.

My neighbors and I have had our share of underground utility outages while a new sewer line was installed. Cable, telephone, electricity and water were all out at some point during that period. To fix the problem, the companies just lay a new line and bury it, leaving the old. If you dig and find a broken wire, there's no telling if it's needed unless somethings stops working in your house (or your neighbor's).

I think there should be a standard for burying utilities. At least have a marked pathway where everything goes. Or how about a fixed conduit from the street utilities to your house? Make it easy to get to and hard to damage. Phone and cable wires could be lumped together, and the electricity could be nearby but obviously guarded from people accidentally touching it.

Sure a conduit box could be expensive, but given the number of times these guys have had to come out to our neighborhood to fix damage, it might pay for itself. Something has to be better than the present situation.

I think a utility conduit is a good idea that companies are too short-sighted to adopt. And it's not just a problem in the U.S. While reading the May 2006 National Geographic, I came across this quote from Prince Charles regarding a planned community he was trying to establish:

"It took a long time to wear down the public utility people to have one common trench for water, electricity and gas," [Prince Charles] said. "That was more difficult than you would believe possible. It means you don't have to dig up the road every five minutes—and, you know, one common satellite dish means you don't have to have these things stuck all over everything like a rash."

So I guess I just need some royal clout and I might be able to pull it off!

Buy My House (Lake Greenwood Area)

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:12:48 -0500

My previous residence is for sale! Please click here and have a look. It's a great house with access to Lake Greenwood (South Carolina). If you know anyone who might be interested, please pass the info along!

Update 2006-11-29: the house has been sold! Thanks for your interest.

A Trip to the Airport

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 21:42:42 -0500

I realized I haven't written a thing since January. Well, it's mostly because we moved to a new house and are getting the old one ready to sell. Not very interesting for blogging.

We finally had some good weather on a weekend around here, so I took my son to the local airport to watch the private pilots fly the pattern. We lucked out and there was a lot of activity, so my son was happy. There was a helicopter parked on the field, and we walked over to take a look at it. A woman in a flight suit appeared while we were there; she turned out to be the pilot. Apparently they're in town to work for the US Forest Service. They have been using the copter to start controlled fires in the Sumter National Forest. Today she was on call to put out the fires if necessary.

I'm looking forward to getting back to Flight Simulator when I get my office put together. My friend Owen put together a custom 3D model of our airport that makes it look like you're really flying here.

Reliving Travis McGee

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:45:11 -0500

I stumbled upon this blog. The author is also a Travis McGee fan and followed in Travis and Meyer's footsteps on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico (from the novel Dress Her In Indigo. If you read some of the other entries, you'll see pictures and quotes from some of the places in the book. Cool! I really enjoy the McGee novels based in Mexico. Cinnamon Skin is probably my favorite.

Boo on Nick Jr.

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 12:47:35 -0500

My son is getting interested in playing around with the computer. Many of the shows he likes have eqivalent websites with stories and games. Several of these are on the Nick Jr. website. My son is smart enough to navigate these sites by himself for the most part. I was really disappointed when I found that several parts of their website have video ads that you have to watch or click "skip" before you can see the content. That's pretty desperate on their part. Don't they get enough revenue advertising on TV? Fortunately my son is faster to click the "skip" button than me, but I think I'll be pointing him to better kid websites in the future.

More Memories of The Game

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 12:52:01 -0500

It's fun to watch the search engine hits to my blog when the Ohio State / Michigan game rolls around. My article from last year about jumping into Mirror Lake is getting a lot of traffic.

This year a writer from the Lantern happened upon that post, and asked to interview me. That's a first for me! A lot of Mirror Lake history and parts of our discussion appear in an article in today's Lantern.

I think it's the first time my name ever appeared in that newspaper. I didn't think he'd print the part about not jumping in 1990 because I was wearing my only good pair of shoes! I was prepared in later years with old clothes and ratty sneakers.

I wasn't yet steeped in the tradition of The Game when I arrived at OSU in 1990, and so I sold my student ticket for the Michigan game for slightly more than I paid for the whole season. But I kicked myself when I watched the game on TV from Cincinnati on Thanksgiving weekend; the crowd was so energetic that I wanted to be a part of it. Maybe if I'd have been there the Buckeyes wouldn't have lost 16-13! I vowed to not miss my next chance to go.

I had the luck of going to OSU during the John Cooper years, which meant plenty of wins during the season, but devastating losses to Michigan and bowl game disappointments. The Bucks lost to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor in 1991, 31-3. In 1992 I got my chance to see The Game. I screamed and hollered until I was hoarse, and maybe it did some good, because the Buckeyes pulled off a 13-13 tie with a late game comeback. I remember being genuinely excited about the tie; after all, it was a step up from a loss. OSU's president at the time, Gordon Gee, referred to the game as "one of our greatest wins ever." At the time it didn't seem unreasonable. It sure beat the 28-0 drubbing the Buckeyes would take in 1993, and it stood out as the only non-loss to Michigan when I was in school. So I relish that tie; perhaps if college football games had had overtime back then it would have been a win!

I'm glad the Bucks have turned it around in recent years, but I'll always be a little nervous and excited during Michigan week. GO BUCKS!