From the Doghouse
A look at dogs having fun
Poser Gallery
My gallery of pictures I’ve created in Poser
My Science Fiction and Fantasy stories
Stories I’ve written
Nature by Carol
A look at the less technical side of life
The Loss of A Subscriber; You’re More Important Than You Realize.
I lost one of my subscribers a few days ago. Although I never met the man but I always appreciated his willingness to read my posts and to remain a subscriber. I feel bad that I didn't know more about him. It's obvious that we could have been friends or he would have...
The New Chair, An Engineer’s Journey In Buying A New Chair
Last week the bracket securing the arm of my gaming/ current office chair broke. I’ll admit I’ve put on a few pounds during my Covid isolation and I never intended it to sub as a full-time office chair. Still, I haven’t gained that much weight and the chair was less...
OTR Mobile, A Review
OTR Mobile is not the Internet solution you’re looking for and whatever you do, don’t expect any money back from them. At $60 a month, OTR Mobile seemed like a no brainer decision. they offered me as much as 10 mps, almost 7 times than what my archaic ADSL service...
How To Drive Customers Away, Why I’m Done With Netgear
Over the years I've used a number of Netgear modems, routers and switchers but this weekend I received what will be my last Netgear product. It's a simple Wi-Fi range extender and probably works well but Netgear's attempt at customer retention is not acceptable....
Whatever Happened To Compromise And Acceptance?
I have no mouth and must scream is a short story by Harlen Ellison. Unfortunately it also very accurately sums up my feelings on American politics. I’ll confess to avoiding Twitter and Facebook. I have my website but I’ve accepted that the stats on my website don't...
The SainSmart 3018 PROVer CNC Router, A Review
Given the number of posts I've made on 3D printers, it's safe to assume that I feel I've mastered the basic techniques. Still you always wonder if the grass is greener on the other side. In my case, thanks in part to the Covid blues and Amazon's Prime day I ended up...
Random Posts
Why All The Hate For PO Boxes, Part TwoAlmost two years ago I preordered a Google Nexus tablet, only to have the order cancelled two weeks later because I had used a PO Box as my address. Needless to say I wasn’t happy. Being very frustrated and having limited options, I wrote Google Wallet, PO Boxes and No Nexus 7, and followed up […]
Outsourcing Our Mind To Gadgets, The Sad Case For HumanityWhen my wife was complaining that she no longer remembered any phone numbers, her phone took care of that, I remembered something Kurzweil said in his book, we were outsourcing our mind to our machines. Remembering phone numbers is certainly not the only function we’ve outsourced to our gadgets. I used to pride myself on […]
School Funding, Some Skin in the GameSaturdays are often lively at my local feed store. People go to buy feed but they also enjoy sharing their opinions on politics, drought, school funding and other elements of life in Texas. It would be unfair to describe me as out of my element in a North Texas feed store. A sheep in the […]
Random Posts
Married to an Engineer – Part 3, Brussel SproutsOver all the years my wife and I have been married one thing has remained constant, I hate Brussel sprouts. I’ve eaten stuff all over the world but nothing that tastes as bad as those little green balls of cabbage. When the marriage was still young my wife tried serving them to me in a […]
WaitingJust as I feared, I got the wrong name for my website. It’s a very small thing but still annoying. I had selected OpinionByPen.com and then realized I might want more than one opinion. Easily fixed or so I thought. I then registered OpinionsByPen.com but my hosting account was still under the previous name. As […]
Looking For a Christmas Present? Try Audible.comMany years ago my Mother-in-Law introduced me to Audible.com. She did this indirectly by giving me a iPod Shuffle for Christmas. At the time, I considered the Shuffle part of her tireless campaign to pull me into the Apple mystique. I appreciated the thought but music is not a significant part of my life and […]
Random Posts
How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil, a Review of the AudiobookI bought How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil because Audible put it on sale the same day I had an argument animated discussion with a co-worker about Artificial Intelligence. Knowing I was right, I bought the book to provide supporting material for my position. While the book did support my argument, just barely, my victory […]
First Impressions and a Great SteakWe’ve all been told how important first impressions are. From dating to job interviews we’re lectured constantly that people will judge us based on their first impressions. If you’re like me, you also believe that people are rational beings and will easily overcome those first impressions once they get to know my sharp, analytical and […]
Dessert Selection, A Description of One Engineer’s Decision ProcessMy wife constantly tells me that nobody but an engineer thinks the way I do. I say she’s exaggerating but in an attempt to keep peace in the family I’ve agreed to a test. I’ll write about an ordinary decision process and leave it up to my readers. The Decision In Fort Worth, there’s a […]
From the Doghouse -It’s all about them
A look at dogs having fun!
Short Stories
With posts like these, ever wonder what kind of fiction I would write?
Random Posts
How To Drive Customers Away, Why I’m Done With NetgearOver the years I’ve used a number of Netgear modems, routers and switchers but this weekend I received what will be my last Netgear product. It’s a simple Wi-Fi range extender and probably works well but Netgear’s attempt at customer retention is not acceptable. Netgear will not let me setup …
Engineers From Technicians, A PerspectiveIn electronics you have two classes of knowledge experts, Engineers and Technicians. I’m ignoring the programmers for the moment because they only complicate this discussion. The distinction between the two classes can become very blurred but Engineers are expected to create designs, while Technicians implement and troubleshoot those designs. At …
Time Travel, We All Do ItRead enough science fiction and sooner or later the subject of time travel will come up. I think we all agree that time travel is not only possible, it’s inevitable. We are always traveling forward in time at a more or less fixed rate. I say more or less because …
Why Is It So Hard To Describe A Problem To An Engineer?If there’s an engineer in your life you already know the soul numbing frustration that comes from trying to describe a problem to an engineer. My poor Wife has suffered through this so many times she’s become a computer expert in self defense. Why is it so hard to work …
How To Take Part In A FCC Scam Without Really TryingI think I’ve made my view of the current FCC leadership fairly clear. In my opinion, commissioner Ajit Pai has lied and misrepresented facts in order to turn the Internet over to the big cable companies. When I read that the New York Attorney General was investigating a FCC scam, …
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