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
Want To Try Some AI Song Writing? Songer Makes It Very Easy.
It's an unfortunate truth that music plays a very small part of my life. So small that I’ve always felt handicapped as a writer because I don’t appreciate music. That probably stems from a lack of rhythm, I have none. I can’t even clap in time to music. Having lived...
A Solar Powered Emotional Epiphany
The rains finally made it to my place this week, answering my main concern on the Rubbermaid shed: how well would it keep water out? Turns out the answer is “not perfect but fairly well” and would have been better had my ego not insisted on a one man show. A small...
The Rubbermaid 7’ x 10’ Shed, A Review
This is a review of the Rubbermaid 7’ x 10’ shed but my story begins with a humbling confession of my own ignorance. When I bought my dream ranch, complete with a charming old barn, I was blissfully unaware of the storm of frustration that lay ahead. Neither the barn...
What Happened To Conversation?
I remember the day I made my first and last comment on LinkedIn. It was a discussion on a manned Mars mission and how it should be abandoned because the odds against the voyagers surviving were high. I remarked that Columbus’ crew probably faced the same fears. Boy,...
Re-occurring Bills, Do The Companies Just Not Get It?
It’s that time of the month again, the week most of my bills come due. Prior to retirement, I gave very little thought to making insurance payments as they were automatically extracted from my paycheck. Retirement brought monthly insurance bills. Just thinking about...
Solar Powered Wyze Cameras, An Engineering Evolution
As with most engineering projects, it started with a need. In my case, as soon as I got high-speed Internet, I eagerly added several cameras. I chose Wyze because they are affordable, don’t require a monthly subscription, and offer excellent picture quality. Wanting...
Random Posts
Change, It’s Not Always ApparentI had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine a few weeks ago, he was contending that there had been no major changes in our lives over the last five years. Of course I brought up drones, 3D printers and well, that was the problem, I couldn’t think of anything that was changing our […]
The Me Too Movement, One Woman’s OpinionI want to make it very clear that this was not written by me. I could give the standard disclaimer about the opinions expressed here and so on but as a male, I’m not qualified to express an opinion on the topic. However, as a woman who has spent over forty years in several male […]
An Engineer’s PerspectiveI admit it, I went into engineering because I enjoy solving problems. When I look at something I think about the design techniques employed and the ways to use it in practice. I think about possible improvements, design trade-offs and always enjoy seeing new technology. If you see me staring at the ceiling, I’m usually […]
Random Posts
Reliability, Warranty and Why Nothing Lasts As Long As It Used ToFive years ago I had to make an emergency run to Fry’s because the video card in my wife’s computer had died and she had a raid scheduled with her gaming guild. With a wide selection of high end cards, I selected her current card because it had a lifetime warranty. Today I’m having to […]
Why You Never Ask An Engineer, What Are You Thinking?It’s been a beautiful evening. The meal was delicious. The waiter had been right, the dessert was to die for. Noticing the smile on his face, you reach out and gently grasp your beloveds’ hand. In a warm voice, full of love and contentment, you say, “What are you thinking?” Your companion squeezes your hand […]
Failure To Communicate, The Evolution of A Bad DesignWhen I write about engineers, I naturally try to show us in the best light possible. Still, there’s no arguing that some of the things you cope with as a consumer of the products we design would have been avoided if a blind monkey were the designer. Why does this happen? I call it a failure […]
Random Posts
The Use and Misuse of Metrics, What Do They Mean?I was showing a book in my Kindle library to a fellow engineer this week when he noticed the time to the end of the chapter was two minutes and fifteen seconds. The book was interesting to him but the use of reading metrics was even more interesting, not because of what it meant but because […]
The SainSmart 3018 PROVer CNC Router, A ReviewGiven 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 with a SainSmart […]
Demystifying The Prusa PINDA With a Possible SubstituteSlightly over three years ago, I acquired my first 3D printer, a UP! Mini. I didn’t know it at the time but as a beginning printer it was perfect for me. Two years later I was familiar with the weaknesses of my printer and wanted more. I studied reviews, I put various printers on my […]
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
Using WordPress.com To Host Your BlogI used to work at a small electronics store that grew too fast and could not sustain itself when to economy took a turn for the worse. When the store finally closed, I was amazed by the ego of the owner as he started selling subscriptions to his newsletter, a …
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 …- The Me Too Movement, One Woman’s OpinionI want to make it very clear that this was not written by me. I could give the standard disclaimer about the opinions expressed here and so on but as a male, I’m not qualified to express an opinion on the topic. However, as a woman who has spent over …
Synergy And A New BeginningSynergy is a great word that’s become a victim of its own sexiness. A few years ago it seemed to be an unwritten rule that this word must be used in corporate mission statements everywhere. I sure you’ve seen statements like “Utilizing the synergy of our multiple sites we will …
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 lie, nobody wants …