In Defense Of My Junk Box: Married to An Engineer

Just about every electrical or mechanical engineer I know has some kind of junk box—a treasure trove of parts accumulated over the years, all saved with the hope they might come in handy someday. My own junk box started at a very early age. Too young to work a...

Justifying My AI Hobby By Finding Blaze A Forever Home

From 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...

Maximizing Profit: Reliable Designs Or Frequent Repairs?

When I retired, my wife strongly suggested I put some of that newfound free time into cleaning rather than gaining another level in my current game. My trusty old vacuum cleaner, however, decided it wasn’t up to the increased workload and promptly broke a belt. Of...

From the Doghouse

A look at dogs having fun

Poser Gallery

My gallery of pictures I’ve created in Poser

Nature by Carol

A look at the less technical side of life

My Quest, Why I Started a Blog

My Quest, Why I Started a Blog

Role Playing Games try to simulate the way we interact with the world and break the elements down to a few essentials. These essentials are then simplified and incorporated into the game as the designer envisions. For example, my character might be described as having...

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Udacity

Udacity

When I signed up for CS101: Building a Search Engine at www.Udacity.com, I had no idea what to expect. I'll admit what I really wanted to sign up for was CS373:Programming a Robotic Car. After a careful examination of the requirements for CS373, I realized I'd always...

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Style, What It Means To An Engineer

Style, What It Means To An Engineer

If you have an engineer within your close circle of friends, save yourself some trouble. Go to YouTube and watch "Dilbert - The Knack". As the doctor is explaining young Dilbert's condition he characterizes an engineer with  two statements, "extreme intuition about...

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Journalism?

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...

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Focus

Focus

In gaming, you get to pick specific attributes that contribute to your characters success. Real life is similar, but we don't get to choose our attributes. In a way I was lucky, one of my strongest attributes is focus.  For an engineer, the ability to focus on a...

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Becoming Borg

Becoming Borg

I'm assuming that you have a basic knowledge of the Borg. No need to fear though. If your knowledge of the Borg is lacking, please read this article from Wikipedia and come back: wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg.  You know who the Borg are now. You probably are thinking that...

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Random Posts

  • Using 1040 Advertising As A Revenue Stream, Why Not?Using 1040 Advertising As A Revenue Stream, Why Not?
    Every once in a while I have an idea that’s almost brilliant. Google has made most of its money through advertising. Why can’t the US government do the same? Every year the IRS gets an update on where we live, how much money we made, and how we spend our money. They keep records of […]
  • Windows 8Windows 8
    While 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 Solar Powered Emotional EpiphanyA 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 amount of water […]

Random Posts

  • Married To A Systems Engineer, Why Do Engineers Ask So Many QuestionsMarried To A Systems Engineer, Why Do Engineers Ask So Many Questions
    I 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 […]
  • Married To An Engineer – Change Is Inevidable, For YouMarried To An Engineer – Change Is Inevidable, For You
    As I wrote in Married to an Engineer Part 1, living with an engineer isn’t for everybody. Not only do you have to put up with someone you often suspect loves technology more than you but living with an engineer will change you in more ways than you ever anticipated. I had time to reflect […]
  • Opinionbypen Hits 10,000 ViewsOpinionbypen Hits 10,000 Views
    Sometime this last week, Opinionbypen had its 10,000th page view. For those of you who, like myself, love numbers, that’s an average of 556 views a month or 18 views a day.  I’m proud of that number because those are page views by real humans, not bots. If I counted visits from bots the number […]

Random Posts

  • A Proposal For Developing Engineering SynergyA Proposal For Developing Engineering Synergy
    If you work in a factory you’re used to hearing management babble, just think about your mission statement. If it’s like most mission statements out there, it’s a collection of meaningless phrases. Take this for example, “Utilizing our engineering synergy, we will develop a paradigm of waste cutting and improved production, allowing us to totally […]
  • A Futuristic Design Concept, REPTILEA Futuristic Design Concept, REPTILE
    Today’s post doesn’t fall into any of my normal categories. It won’t educate you or make you think about an issue. It won’t give you a better idea of how to cope with an engineer (although you will see the imagination that my wife has to put up with). No, today I’m sharing a futuristic […]
  • How To Get A Solar Powered Potting Table. Married To An EngineerHow To Get A Solar Powered Potting Table. Married To An Engineer
    I’m not going to say I was manipulated into my solar powered potting table but looking back at it, the signs were there. Shortly before our anniversary, my Wife started showing me potting tables made by other men for their wives. The thing was, none of these tables looked like they would last a season. […]

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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

  • 501(c)(4), Which Part Is The IRS Violating?501(c)(4), Which Part Is The IRS Violating?
    It was with surprise and horror that I, along with 20 million other Americans, first learned that the IRS was targeting specific groups for their in-depth investigations into tax exempt status. How did they possibly believe such a travesty would go undetected? I’ve only got one question, why is the …
  • Imagination, It Allows Us To See The ImpossibleImagination, It Allows Us To See The Impossible
    I did this post after creating a scene in Poser showing my wife’s fondness for old cemeteries. I’ve never understood her fascination with them but her imagination allows her to reflect on these people’s lives and their contributions to society. My imagination only covers us leaving the cemetery. Before I …
  • Communication As Seen By An EngineerCommunication As Seen By An Engineer
    Communication, 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 …
  • A Conspiracy Theory Regarding Encryption Creating My DilemmaA Conspiracy Theory Regarding Encryption Creating My Dilemma
    It 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 …
  • Saying Thank You, It’s Not That HardSaying Thank You, It’s Not That Hard
    The first time I entered a library I was overwhelmed by all the information. At the time I was more interested in all the science fiction but I soon learned that there was much more than just fiction. I never considered how much work went into putting that repository of …
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