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 Much Memory Is A Megabyte?
I’m constantly amazed when I encounter people who have no idea how to interpret their file sizes. Then I started writing this and I realized that a lot of this was very confusing. Almost like it was deliberately planned but I’m certainly not at liberty to tell you...
An Insidious Plot Against Men
I’ve recently become convinced that my wife has embarked on a deliberate campaign to fatten me up. I don’t know why, I certainly don’t need additional help but I can find no other explanation for her actions. Consider this. It’s the weekend, I’ve spent a grueling day...
Making a Demon Skull With LED Eyes
Two weeks ago, I promised I would explain why I had a collection of demon skulls and I would have met that schedule but repairing my 3D printer took priority. That’s done and unfortunately by the time you read this Halloween is probably over too. Still, I really like...
Repairing My 3D Printer
This week had a number of coincidences. After telling you that my wife is like a magnet for nails, she ended up with another nail in her tire and right after I published my latest post on my 3D printer, my printer died. My wife felt it was a very convenient...
Tis The Season For 3D Printing
June 2014, that’s the date I got my UP! Mini printer and wrote my first post on 3D printing. That was my introduction to 3D printers and while I intend to get another, I wanted to first review my reasons for getting that initial printer. I tend to review my goals and...
Sometimes the Engineers Get It Wrong, TPMS
Yesterday the TPMS warning for my wife's canine roadshow, AKA known as a Dodge Grand Caravan, came on. In case you're not familiar with the term, the TPMS is your tire pressure monitoring system. Now my wife's relationship with tires is the stuff urban legends are...
Random Posts
A Solar Powered Emotional EpiphanyThe 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 amount of water […]
Interspecies Communication As Experienced By An EngineerI thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise because they spent much of the time grappling with communication issues. Universal translators, missing databases, peculiar methods of communication, and one memorable episode without a translator. I highlight this because finding similarities is one of my key problem-solving tools. When it comes to training a […]
Married To A Systems Engineer, Why Do Engineers Ask So Many QuestionsI really don’t think it’s fair for my wife to break into uncontrollable laughter every time I explain that as a systems engineer, most of my job involves facilitating communications. I understand why she starts laughing, despite speaking a common language, communication between the two of us is difficult but that’s still no excuse. She […]
Random Posts
Communication As Seen By An EngineerCommunication, the human race has been attempting it for thousands of years. Whither it’s art, music, writing, movies, even this website, it’s all a form of communication. With that much practice, you would think we’d be better at it. Honestly, I don’t know why we aren’t better at it but I think the problem exists […]
The Rise and Fall of a Power ZombieWe’ve all been told about the coming zombie apocalypse. We’ve seen the movies of the zombie hordes but the reality is here, now and it’s far uglier. Forget the mindless searching for brains and more brains. That particular species of zombies accidentally migrated to Washington D.C. and died of starvation. No, if you want to […]
A Plea For An End To Short Power CordsIn a world where we’ve given up all pretense of individual responsibility we’re flooded with an ever expanding universe of safety regulations, safety stickers and short power cords. When I look at the sticker on my lawn mower, “Caution! Do not reach under mower while blades are turning,” I can only imagine the scene in […]
Random Posts
Justifying My AI Hobby By Finding Blaze A Forever HomeFrom my early teenage years, technology has always played a significant part in my life. Though I was late to the party, I joined the technology revolution as the world transitioned from vacuum tubes to transistors in 1963. By 1975, I found myself in the midst of the personal computer revolution as the manager of […]
Grammar and Rhetoric, the Drout WayWhen I wrote my post on the confusing rules of writing, the last thing I expected to find was an answer. Two months later not only have I found several answers but I have a better insight into the way I learn. All thanks to two books on rhetoric and grammar. Living in rural Texas, […]
How To Identify An EngineerHow do you identify an engineer? My wife and I have frequent discussions about engineers being a unique class of people. She feels that communication with me is difficult because I think differently than most people. I feel that communication with me is far simpler than with other people as long as you follow the […]
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
The Demise of the PC, Where I Blame EverbodyWriting this post took a lot longer than usual. It wasn’t all the additional research, the facts are staring us in the face. This post depressed me because it was so obvious. Building your own PC is about to go the way of the 70’s muscle cars, suddenly the entire …
Musings On Why Organizations Fail and How You Can Prevent ItJust after Easter, a friend told me about attending the last meeting of a club he had helped start almost 42 years ago. Their downfall was caused by a simple problem, nobody wanted to serve as officers. I suspect there were other factors too but considering the state of our …
Passwords, We Have Way Too ManyPasswords, it seems like everyplace you go on the Internet someone is asking for your password. It’s not bad enough that everybody and their brother wants you to set up an account with another password, they all have different rules for your password. Must be at least 10 characters, must …
Closing Out 2019 In Bits And PiecesI admit it. Sometimes very logical conclusions completely escape me. I started Opinionbypen because I realized I was too isolated. At the time it never occurred to me that nobody cared. In order to people to take time out of their life and read my blog, they have to get …
Apathy, How To Waste Your VoteOver the last few months I’ve had some very harsh words for our politicians in Washington. My Mother-in-law pointed out that the politicians really aren’t to blame for our current situation. They may be totally incompetent and dysfunctional but it’s not their fault they are in office. The only reason …