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
Don’t Be Seduced by Technology
When it comes to new technology most of us are familiar with the terms “Bleeding edge” “leading edge” and “legacy”. Bleeding edge is the latest and greatest. It’s just beginning to show up in the hands of a few tech savvy consumers. We call it bleeding because it’s a...
A Discussion on the Writing of Dockside
I'll admit to a huge amount of pride in the stories I’ve written. Unfortunately very few of you have read my stories. That’s not your fault. I already know what I write doesn’t appeal to everyone. Before you protest, let me explain that the way my stories are...
Betrayal at Neverwinter Mod 6
(If you’re not into MMORPGs, Neverwinter mod 6 in particular, do yourself a favor and skip this.) You say you want me to help you kill a dragon? Times must be worse than I thought when you have to scour taverns to get a group together. Still, like myself, I know that...
A Late Mother’s Day Praise For Mother Nature
It’s amazing how fast time passes. This makes my fourth Mother’s Day post since I started Opinionbypen. Okay, last year was a political piece but I dedicated it to both my Mother and Mother-in-Law because of their strong interest in politics. Given how tough it is to...
Musings on Parallel Universes
All my life I’ve been fascinated by the concept of parallel universes. You know what I mean, universes that coexist with ours, having only minor differences. Then again, maybe you don’t know what I mean. The idea goes something like this. Every time you make a...
An Engineer Looks At Accountants
Put a group of engineers together discussing projects and sooner or later the discussion will turn to beancounters. No, beancounters aren’t an apparatus for counting individual beans, we use the term to refer to the accounting department. As you might guess, this is...
Random Posts
Luck, Statistics and Long MeetingsIt was during one of those long company meetings that I started thinking about luck. You know the meeting, it seems like a contest between the presenters on who can be the most boring. Trying to stay awake through one of those verges on the impossible. In an attempt to look vaguely interested, I started […]
In Search of an EditorI’m afraid that my mental picture of a newspaper editor is largely limited to movie characters. Perry White and J. Jonah Jameson are two that come to mind. I also assumed that they had something to do with the big picture for a newspaper but I never gave it much thought. When it came to […]
Sundae, The Life And Times Of A Dedicated CompanionI’ve been fortunate enough to spend the last 14 years under very close supervision. If I tried to stay up too late, I was gently reminded it was past my bed time. Her displeasure was clear if I tried to snack too often. I was never allowed to sit at my desk too long before […]
Random Posts
Windows 8While it seems like a year ago, it was only a few months ago that one of the primary initiators for this blog happened. Microsoft released the Windows 8 beta. With the exception of Vista, I’ve always tried to use the latest version of Windows. When Microsoft released the Windows 7 beta, I tried it […]
A Design Principle Frequently ForgottenIn his lectures on rhetoric, Professor Michael Drout said write what your audience needs to hear, not what you want to say. Each time he said that I nodded my head in agreement. This concept was important enough that he repeated it several times at various points in his lecture. About the third time this […]
How A Hijacked Post Helped Me Realize The Value of CommentsWhen I said I wanted to expand my Opinionbypen experience, I was thinking more about advertising and social media. I didn’t mean getting my website hacked or getting one of my posts hijacked and yet so far this year that’s exactly what’s happened. There’s no other way for me to say it, there are times […]
Random Posts
Windows 10 Versus Chromebook, What Does Intregity Have To Do With It?I’m writing this on a Chromebook. Think of it more as an experiment rather than a review of Chromebook capabilities. Why? When my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I saw it as an opportunity to upgrade my computer. A little research and I realized that in order to upgrade, I would have […]
The Rubbermaid 7’ x 10’ Shed, A ReviewThis 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 nor the house had sufficient […]
A Brief Guided Tour of an Engineer’s Thought ProcessI’m going to break a few rules today. I’m going to take you on a guided tour of an engineer’s thought process. Just in case you know an engineer and realize just how easily we get distracted, we’ll keep this very focused with no detours allowed. My particular brand of engineering is electrical but except […]
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
Journalism?I’m a little busy this week trying to finish my Udacity course and even though it doesn’t matter, I still want to get a good grade. With that in mind, I asked a friend to contribute and he was happy to help out. ___________________ The exposure and allure of journalism …
Are You Sure?I own an old DVD VCR. It’s a good VCR but it has one issue that really irritates me. In order to record on a DVD I have to initialize the DVD. What I don’t like is that is asks me four times if I’m sure that I want to …
Risk Reward Analysis And How to Influence Your Engineer’s DecisionEvery decision an engineer makes goes through a risk reward analysis, each and every one. It’s not a complicated process, it doesn’t involve calculus but it’s not always obvious. Let me give you an example. Recently my two year old Samsung dryer decided to stop working. Power would come on …- Windows 10 Versus Chromebook, What Does Intregity Have To Do With It?I’m writing this on a Chromebook. Think of it more as an experiment rather than a review of Chromebook capabilities. Why? When my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I saw it as an opportunity to upgrade my computer. A little research and I realized that in order …
Why is An Engineer So Brutally Honest But Still Can’t Read A Schedule?For a marketing person, introducing a potential customer to an engineer is the stuff nightmares are made from. Engineers can be brutally honest about technology. Note I said technology. We’re perfectly capable of lying. Ask us about schedule, percent complete, does this dress make me look fat…. On second thought, …