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
A Look at Beauty Through The Eyes Of An Engineer
One look at my wife’s website, NaturebyCarol, and you can see she’s enamored with daylilies. As an engineer, I simply don’t understand the fascination. You put all this time and effort into a flower that only lasts a day. When I work on a project, I want it to last...
After The Crash, Comparing Backup Software, Acronis, Aomei and Paragon
The idea behind a software review is to give an unbiased appraisal of the program. Unfortunately most reviews are anything but unbiased. As hard as I tried, this review is no exception. After my experiences last month, I decided to see what else was out there for...
Ready For Your Hard Drive To Fail? Make Sure Your Backup Works
Backup software is a lot like an insurance policy. Until you have an accident you have no idea how good it is. Of course, if you race down the highway at 100 mph, trying to determine what your stockbroker meant when he texted you, “sell immediately,” you’ll probably...
Using Data To Influence My Content, How Opinionbypen.com Changes
In the design and maintenance of Opinionbypen.com, there are two guiding principles I always consider. When it comes to technology, resisting change is the best way to become forgotten. Then again maybe you’re still using a rotary telephone as you watch your VHS tapes...
The Zone, An Explanation For The Rest Of You
It’s evening and your dearly beloved has been sitting at the computer for hours. You know that this obsession has something to do with the latest project but you aren’t sure of the details. With a smile, you decide to do something nice for your beloved. You pour a...
Stop Insulting My Intelligence, A Rant For The Rest Of Us
I'm tired of people insulting my intelligence. No, I don't mean the comments on Opinionbypen suggesting my writing is only slightly better than what my dogs could write or the few choice words my supervisor uses after reading my latest progress report. I'm not even...
Random Posts
Opinionbypen Hits 10,000 ViewsSometime this last week, Opinionbypen had its 10,000th page view. For those of you who, like myself, love numbers, that’s an average of 556 views a month or 18 views a day. I’m proud of that number because those are page views by real humans, not bots. If I counted visits from bots the number […]
Spam Avoidance And An Idea For A Great Mother’s Day PresentThe idea was a inspired one. The more I use it, the more I appreciate what Scrivener, from Literature and Latte, does for writers. When I was offered a chance to buy a copy at half price, having already bought my own copy, I immediately thought buying it as a gift for my mother on Mother’s Day. […]
Musings On My Greatest Achievement As I Enter RetirementWhen I retired, there were a few questions that everyone seemed to ask: how did I feel about stepping into retirement (frankly, terrified) and what was my first project going to be (the rebuilding of my dilapidated well house). Yet, there was one question that genuinely made me pause and reflect deeply on my career: […]
Random Posts
Want To Be A Great Writer? You Need Great CharactersWhy this topic? Why now? Perhaps an explanation is in order. Recently I had to send a white paper I had written several years ago to a colleague having similar problems. Prior to sending it, I took the time to read it and almost spent the rest of the day rewriting it. Obviously, my goal […]
First Thoughts on Flying a Phantom DJ3 Advanced QuadcopterSeveral years ago, I found myself admiring a friend’s F16 RC model. It was almost five feet from nose to tail and although it had single ducted fan motor in the body to replicate the jet engine of the F16, it was supposed to be one of the fastest models out there. It had come to him as a […]
Surviving An Engineering PresentationIf you’re a nontechnical person and had the misfortune of having to sit through an engineering presentation you probably felt the presentation was never going to end. There was just not enough coffee in the room to keep you awake. There’s a reason for all of this. Like many engineers I never enjoyed giving these […]
Random Posts
Nothing Personal But I Don’t Trust Your EmailThe idea for this post started with an email from a friend asking me if I had ever been an attorney and this link, http://abovethelaw.com/2013/02/inside-straight-assuming-that-people-are-idiots/. That’s two strikes against it right there, I dislike attorneys and I don’t like blind links. What swayed me to read this was the relationship I have with my friend, […]
Color, Fashion and an EngineerHave you ever considered what a wondrous thing it is to see color? In spring I get to enjoy the vivid green of my pasture, the bright red of the cardinals as they feast on the insects trying to eat my pasture, the mixed reds and yellows of my wife’s roses, even the black and […]
Office 2013 Terms, Marketing Ploy or Greed?Revised March 6, 2013: After reading my post Microsoft had a change of heart and relented on allowing you to transfer your copy of Office 2013. They made the announcement today allowing you to transfer it every 90 days. They did not mention my blog in particular but I know that’s they way it happened, […]
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
Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies, WowI enjoy writing this blog because I’m not constrained to a single topic. Today is all about cookies. Let me set the background. I love cookies. Everyone who knows me knows I love cookies. The only thing that lured me off my Atkins diet was cookies. My Food Scout quickly …- Opinionbypen Hits 10,000 ViewsSometime this last week, Opinionbypen had its 10,000th page view. For those of you who, like myself, love numbers, that’s an average of 556 views a month or 18 views a day. I’m proud of that number because those are page views by real humans, not bots. If I counted …
The Great Courses, I Almost Missed ThemI have a long list of topics for blogs sitting in my Dropbox folder. I even have a few unfinished posts that would only take a short time to finish. The problem is that nothing appeals to me as a subject and I try to do at least one new …
Windows 10, Microsoft Doesn’t Get ItHave you ever been listening to someone and thought to yourself, “they just don’t get it.” No, I wasn’t talking about our politicians. Although given their actions over the last few year, it’s obvious that they don’t get it either. Instead I was talking about some of our leading industries …
My Experience With Ramsay Hunt SyndromeThis is not something I wanted to write about but as I said in Questing, I’m trying to be more open and share my experiences. I told myself that once this was not a major factor in my life I would write about it. About 8 weeks ago I had …