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
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...
Want To Be A Great Writer? You Need Great Characters
Why 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....
Why All The Negative Political Ads? Are Politicians Afraid Of A Position?
I just finished exercising my political rights by voting against all the candidates so far from my own political views that I had no choice but to vote for their opposition. Looking back on my experience, I realize every vote I made was for the lessor evil. I did my...
How To Get A Solar Powered Potting Table. Married To An Engineer
I’m not going to say I was manipulated into my solar powered potting table but looking back at it, the signs were there. Shortly before our anniversary, my Wife started showing me potting tables made by other men for their wives. The thing was, none of these tables...
Random Posts
Creeping Elegance, the Design of a RemoteI’m going to introduce a term that might be new to you, creeping elegance. It’s probably been the cause of more project failures than poor engineering. If you’re an engineer or a programmer you already know it way too well but just in case you’re not, let me give you an example. It has a […]
Married To An Engineer, The Christmas Dinner DilemmaI just discovered that I’ll be having steak for Christmas dinner instead of the ham everyone else will be having. Truthfully, I don’t see this as a bad thing but I hate to see this happen simply because my wife and I don’t seem to communicate on the meaning of like and don’t like. My […]
How To Get A Solar Powered Potting Table. Married To An EngineerI’m not going to say I was manipulated into my solar powered potting table but looking back at it, the signs were there. Shortly before our anniversary, my Wife started showing me potting tables made by other men for their wives. The thing was, none of these tables looked like they would last a season. […]
Random Posts
Gamification, Another Management Fad?I like my job, I really do. In order to ensure I continue to like my job I avoid a lot of topics that I would like to write about because my management might not see my point. This is one of those topics. One of the stronger engineering traits is the ability to see […]
Language and CultureI read a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I enjoy the way it gives the author the freedom to explore different concepts, different rules of physics, different societies. I also don’t have to look for a deeper meaning. One of the books that really made me think was “The Languages of Pao” by Jack […]
An Opinion On Opinions. Why The Other Guy Isn’t Always WrongWith all the freedom and enlightenment our society is supposed to have, I find it amazing how little tolerance we have for someone with an opinion that differs from ours. Maybe the anonymity provided by the Internet reinforces this behavior, Twitter certainly seems to thrive on a crowd mentality. Still, I’ve seen a lot of […]
Random Posts
Bots Invading Your Blog? Don’t Feel AloneI’m really tired of all the net parasites that visit my website on a daily basis. You might know them as bots or webcrawlers but somehow parasites fits. I’ve mentioned before that the number of bots my site receives far exceeds the number of visitors. On a typical day my site receives about 10 visitors […]- Language and CultureI read a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I enjoy the way it gives the author the freedom to explore different concepts, different rules of physics, different societies. I also don’t have to look for a deeper meaning. One of the books that really made me think was “The Languages of Pao” by Jack […]
The Importance Of Good Grammar, A Mathematic LookEvery once in a while I have to let my inner engineer interact with the real world. I apologize to you now but this post is the result of one of those times. About a year ago I wrote a post bemoaning the confusing rules of writing. It’s my nature to look at a system […]
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
Email Scams, How Many Do you Get?It’s discouraging to find out that one of the characters I use in online gaming has a more active social life than I do. Based on the email he gets, he’s active on Facebook, Whatsapp, Google+, Battlenet, Instagram and even has a bank account with Chase. His photos have taken …
Customer Retention, A Forgotten Concept Or Counting On Our LazinessI just finished deleting Opinionbypen. No, not this version of my blog obviously. I’m talking about the version hosted at GoDaddy. This year when my renewal rolled around, GoDaddy rewarded my tenure with a rate increase. Having been with then for five years, they could have rewarded my customer loyalty …
Death By PowerPoint, Together We Can Prevent This Dreadful DiseaseWe’ve all heard the term, Death by PowerPoint. If you work in an office environment, odds are you’ve come to hate PowerPoint presentations. Surprisingly, I’m not going to attribute this to Microsoft. No, the blame for this hatred lies solely with us, the creators of the slide deck. I’m going to …- Bots Invading Your Blog? Don’t Feel AloneI’m really tired of all the net parasites that visit my website on a daily basis. You might know them as bots or webcrawlers but somehow parasites fits. I’ve mentioned before that the number of bots my site receives far exceeds the number of visitors. On a typical day my …
BYOD, a Rallying Cry For RevolutionBYOD, Bring Your Own Device, is a relatively new term. It reflects the desire of employees to use their own tablet, iPad or Android device rather than using the device provided by their company. I’ve been here before and it’s nothing less than a revolution, not one of violence or …
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