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
Opinionbypen 2016 Goals in Review, How Well Did I Do?
I force my wife to read the first draft of all my posts. I've found that this keeps me out of trouble with her and gives me some insight on how people will feel when they read it. I mention that because after reading this post she said I always seemed sad when...
Married To An Engineer, The Christmas Dinner Dilemma
I 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...
All I Want For Christmas is Rural High Speed Internet
All I want for Christmas is rural high speed Internet. Well, at least my area of rural America with unlimited data while I'm wishing. As ridiculous as that sounds, it's true for me and an ever increasing number of people living in rural America. With all the...
I Need You To Stop Watching Me, An Engineer’s Confession
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean no one is watching you. There’s a lot of truth to that statement. All my life, people have been watching me. No, I don’t mean spies, foreign agents or even the NSA. Not that I'm dismissing the notion that they might be lurking...
Most of My Knowledge Started With Failure
There are people who say I have an enormous ego, not that I disagree. I’ve gone so far as to write about my ego, although in that post I attributed my ego to being an engineer. There are even a few people who believe I deserve to have a big ego. So much for truth...
Is Windows 10 So Bad I Should Consider Using Linux?
If you’ve ever been frustrated to tears by some of the “enhancements” Microsoft has added to Windows over the years, sooner or later you'll consider using Linux. As I’m writing this on my Windows 10 laptop, Microsoft has already told me that my version of...
Random Posts
Your Incredible Power To Influence Technologic EvolutionEvolution is one of those topics on which everyone has an opinion. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try influencing your opinion but I am going to tell you how it works to your advantage. Consider your phone for example. Wait, you thought I was talking about the biology version of evolution? No, I’m sure […]
Married To An Engineer – Part 2It’s happened again this year, once again I’ve forgotten my anniversary. Every year that it happens, I swear it won’t happen again. I’ve set alarms on watches, PDAs and smartphones. I went so far as to enlist my Mother-In-Law’s help but every once in a while all those mechanisms fail simultaneously and I’m left red […]
Married To An Engineer – Change Is Inevidable, For YouAs I wrote in Married to an Engineer Part 1, living with an engineer isn’t for everybody. Not only do you have to put up with someone you often suspect loves technology more than you but living with an engineer will change you in more ways than you ever anticipated. I had time to reflect […]
Random Posts
Married To An Engineer, Why Can’t I Have A New OvenI wanted my wife to write this from her point of view because if anyone in this marriage has suffered, it’s her. She wants a new oven and I continue to repair the old one. As long as it continues to work, why do we need to replace it? I realized just how different my way […]
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, […]
In Praise of Two Moms, Mother’s DayMother’s day, that one day of the year that you devote the day to telling your mother thank you for everything she’s done. Of course, if you’re like my Mother and me, a full day is stretching it. Neither one of us has that much free time. When I started thinking about this post, I […]
Random Posts
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 a practical level, the difference […]
Starting A Blog? Spend Some Time PlanningI think everybody would agree that planning is essential. There are degrees of planning that may be necessary to be successful but the planning still needs to take place. My wife tells me that I over plan everything. I don’t get it. If I’m going somewhere I’ve never been I’ll pull up maps to locate […]
Why Are We Allowing The News Media To Manipulate Our Opinions?I know, I vowed no more political blogs but that was last year. This really isn’t about politics anyway. It’s about the manipulation of our society by the news media. I believe the divisiveness we see today is driven largely by this manipulation. Remember the recent headlines about a high school student harassing a Native […]
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
Technical Arrogance, No One Is ImmuneIf there’s one thing the engineering world is full of, it’s arrogance. Don’t get me wrong, I suffer from the same affliction. I think it comes with being an engineer. After you’ve done the simulations and all the testing, it’s not a surprise that your design works. Enough successes and …
The SainSmart Jinsoku LC-40 Laser Engraver, A ReviewI’ve always been fascinated by lasers. When I was much younger, I tried to make one using an LED and a transistor for amplification. Fortunately physics was against me and I think we’re all happy my attempt was a failure. That failure did nothing to diminish my interest in lasers. …
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 …
A Question About Poor Customer ServiceI often try to get you to comment on my blogs but today is a little different. I’m going to describe an issue I had with customer service about a year ago and I really want your opinion. Am I being petty? What have you done in a similar situation? …
The Solar Powered Chicken Coop Fan ProjectSummers in Texas are brutal, especially if you’re a chicken locked up in your coop every evening. Sure, it’s for their own protection but on those evenings with little or no breeze, it can get very stuffy. Adding an electric fan would help but running a 200 foot extension cord …