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
Why All The Hate For PO Boxes, Part Two
Almost two years ago I preordered a Google Nexus tablet, only to have the order cancelled two weeks later because I had used a PO Box as my address. Needless to say I wasn’t happy. Being very frustrated and having limited options, I wrote Google Wallet, PO Boxes and...
Are Android Permissions Getting Out Of Hand?
It seems like every Android app builder out there wants permissions, no, absolutely needs permissions to access to my location, my contacts, my camera and so on. Without it there's no way they can trust me to use their app. I may be in left field here but I don’t...
Why Do I Need To Change My Passwords So Frequently?
I was in a discussion about passwords a few days ago when somebody mentioned that it was a good idea to change your passwords frequently. That sounds good on the face of it but if you have a strong password should you change it frequently? It’s that frequent changing...
Ronin, From Puppy To Adolescent
This post started as a very simple idea. Most of them do but this was an opportunity to have a fun post and gain a few brownie points with my wife. You see it was Mother’s day and five weeks earlier my wife had acquired Ronin. Strictly speaking, a puppy doesn’t...
A Mother’s Day Post On Political Change
I should explain why I’m doing a political post for Mother’s Day. Last year I explained that I have to consider both my Mother and my Mother-in-law. When it comes to this blog both of them have given me strong encouragement to continue writing. They’ve only expressed...
Ego, It Doesn’t Improve Your Homelife Either
A very long time ago I was a manager of the small group of electronic designers. Like many engineering managers I had been a very good designer and I’d been promoted to the position of manager without knowing what it took to become a manager. The way I saw it, the...
Random Posts
Shouting Is A Poor Form Of CommunicationA few nights ago I was playing Tera with a friend who wanted to try it out. He was on a trial account and while he could receive messages from me he could not send them to me. This lead to a mildly frustrating 30 minutes involving phone texting and emotes. I understand the reasons […]
What To Buy for the Engineer in Your Life?Every year around this time my wife agonizes on what to get me for Christmas. This year I decided to help her by writing what to buy for the engineer in your life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hard to shop for but my wife and I live in two different worlds. Her world […]
Sequestration, Escrow and Congressional Cuts, An IdeaThink about this. You’ve known for a while that your company was having some issues. Your company seems to be slipping in its market position and recently the board of directors can’t seem to agree on anything. Your manager calls you into his office to tell you that the board of directors can’t agree on […]
Random Posts
Who Supports Ending Net Neutrality? Texas Senator John Cornyn, But Why?I’ve always believed you shouldn’t get involved in a fight you have no hope of winning. I find it unfortunate that I’m not heeding that advice with regard to net neutrality. Still, I can’t help but wonder why Texas Senator John Cornyn supports an organization using fake comments to support its decision to eliminate net […]
Looking For a Christmas Present? Try Audible.comMany years ago my Mother-in-Law introduced me to Audible.com. She did this indirectly by giving me a iPod Shuffle for Christmas. At the time, I considered the Shuffle part of her tireless campaign to pull me into the Apple mystique. I appreciated the thought but music is not a significant part of my life and […]
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 […]
Random Posts
Criticism, It’s Not Always BadWhen I started this website I was really concerned about the comments that I would receive. How much tolerance would I have for negative comments? Would I get a multitude of negative comments? Could I handle the criticism without giving up completely? I guess I really didn’t need to worry because out of the almost […]
Married To An Engineer: We See Problems DifferentlySeveral years ago, there was a study on the differences in the way dogs and wolves interacted with people. Now I’m not going to insult your intelligence by comparing engineers to wolves but the study did reveal an intriguing similarity. Like wolves, Engineers see problems differently than our counterparts. When the wolf was confronted with […]
Emotional Content as a Communication ProtocolI’m writing this post for all the other bewildered engineers out there. You’re welcome to read on if you’re not an engineer but I’m not sure what you’ll glean from it. If you’re familiar with communication theory you’ve already been introduced to the Nyquist theorem and understand that the maximum rate of communication is limited […]
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
Blogging Changes and ImprovementsTwo months ago I posted about the mistakes I made in starting this blog. It’s in my nature to review the changes I’m made since then and give them an objective look. The most obvious change is my theme. I know I said that I wouldn’t but as I also …
First ImpressionsWhen something irritates me, I tend to remember it a long time. Many, many years ago I applied for a summer job at Six Flags Over Texas. After filling out the resume and waiting for the interview I was told that they would not even interview me until I cut …
It’s Absolutely Impossible For Us To Stop Being An EngineerWe all do it. When we’re reading a book or watching a movie containing elements of our expertise and the story does something so ridiculous that we find it impossible to enjoy the story. Even worse we find ourselves sharing our disgust with anyone willing to listen. My wife finally …
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. …
The Killing Frost, A Transition to Winter In My GardenAfter six years, I finally persuaded my wife to write a post for OpinionbyPen. Well, that and the sadness she felt with the transition to winter killing so much of her garden. She’s writing under the nom de guerre of Big Tomato. Keeping the Brussel sprouts at bay, I hasten …