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
Married to an Engineer – Part 3, Brussel Sprouts
Over all the years my wife and I have been married one thing has remained constant, I hate Brussel sprouts. I've eaten stuff all over the world but nothing that tastes as bad as those little green balls of cabbage. When the marriage was still young my wife tried...
Creeping Elegance, the Design of a Remote
I’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...
The Challenge of Blogging and an Offer
It should be obvious that I write this blog in hopes of other people reading it. I have no advertising on my site and certainly no one is paying me to write it. I do get some satisfaction out of the creative effort and working on this blog has certainly improved my...
The Martian Notifier, Another Smartwatch?
In today’s world it’s a given that in every large gathering of people somebody’s ring tone will blare out. Choosing not to be that person, I try to always keep my phone on vibrate. Only two problems with that plan, because I keep my phone in a holster, I don’t always...
Improving My Writing Means I Have To Write
When I started writing this blog, I had two goals, improve my writing and become comfortable sharing parts of my life. Well, there was also the lure of becoming rich and famous through my writing but reality set in quickly. Writing for a living takes a lot of work....
Married To An Engineer – Part 2
It’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...
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 […]
The Solar Fountain, A Case Study In Poor PlanningAsk anyone in the engineering profession what the most important phase of a project is and they will tell you planning. Okay, a few of the engineers already embarking on a career of management will say funding but they’ve already gone over to the dark side. I can safely ignore them. Even those engineers will […]
What It Takes To Be A Winner by RoninThere are times when you don’t feel like writing. This week, I’m trying to beat the rain and finish the new chicken coop for my wife. When I asked for volunteers to write, Ronin was the only one to speak up. Here’s hoping you like it. What it takes to be a winner Ronin Ever wonder […]
Random Posts
Bringing It Altogether – An Engineer Attempts To Justify His ToysReaders of my blog have been subjected to reviews on three different 3D printers, a CNC wood carver, a laser etcher and a host of solar projects. By now most of you have asked yourselves why is he doing all of this? The same is true of my wife. She eyes each new addition with […]
What Happened To Rewarding Customer LoyaltyAfter almost ten years with Sprint, my wife and I changed our cell service to Verizon. There were a number of reasons but the number one factor was cost. In this case Verizon was offering $150 credit per line that I added and the monthly fee, with two new Galaxy S5s, was slightly less than […]
Creating An Alexa Podcast For OpinionByPen Using Amazon PollyIn my previous post I took you on my journey to add Amazon’s speech synthesizer Polly to Opinionbypen. I have to admit I did this as an excuse to play with some of the emerging technologies offered by Amazon. Although there were a few minor obstacles along the way, Amazon has made adding speech to […]
Random Posts
Death By Productivity ImprovementHave you ever screamed in frustration when your favorite software company announced that they had come up with new methods of productivity improvement? Personally I’m tired of all the help I’m getting. Windows 8 serves as a perfect example of a productivity improvement that nobody wants. Unless your job consists of checking Facebook, the market […]
A Conspiracy Theory Regarding Encryption Creating My DilemmaIt seems that the current trend on social media is overwhelmingly conspiracy theories, especially as elections draw near. I’m not particularly drawn to the political ones, but I’m gripped by a conspiracy theory regarding encryption that’s threatening to upend my world. Venn, embodying the curiosity of her engineering owner and her own role as a […]
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 Path to Success is Filled With FailureWhen faced with a problem, engineers tend to fixate on solving the problem. Often we’re still looking for a solution when others would have given up long ago. It could be that I’m too stubborn to admit defeat but there’s nothing more satisfying than solving a difficult problem. I don’t …
CajunJust to set the story straight, this is a blatant effort to placate my wife after my previous posts mentioning her. All kidding aside, I really do consider myself very fortunate to have the wife I do. Where I have a high technical affinity, my wife has an equally high …
Fathers DayGrowing up in my house it was easy to assume which of my parents was smarter. My mother was a bookkeeper and then a journalist. My father was a lithographer who ran a printing press. My mother represented books and knowledge. My father represented hunting, fishing and sports. I wanted …
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 the cost raises my blood pressure by …
Is Your Team Always Missing Deadlines? It Might Be You!Perhaps it’s my background in electronic design speaking, but I’ve always regarded time as sacrosanct. Consider this: when you’re designing a system that operates at 100 MHz, tolerating a signal that “usually” arrives on time is out of the question. Too late, or even a bit too early, and your …