captbrando's log

Funny, cause Dad always likes to jab me a bit when it comes to reading the paper. “Oh, you wouldn’t know because you don’t get the paper,” and “There is some really important stuff in there, you really should get the paper.” Phoooey. But after all the kicking me in the balls, there is an article that should have caught his attention that did not.

I met a neat reporter from the Dallas Morning News as he is covering a bill that is trying to be passed around Broadband over Power Lines, or BPL. Well it passed through the Texas Senate, and it is now going to the House. Anyway… I talked to Sudeep about it and this article (oh quit complaining, use bugmenot.com) was on the front page of the Business section of the Saturday Paper. You might notice a couple of quotes from someone you know…

Anyway… I’m off to get on the outside chores, so I can then work on the INSIDE chores!

So Randy, Jeff & myself are up in St. Paul this morning and we decide that since nothing is really tying us to the St. Paul office, we’ll try to catch an earlier flight home. After extricating ourselves, we head back (and hit EVERY damn light on the way) to the airport and go through all of those silly motions (rental car, check-in, stand-by, security checkpoint, etc.) and get on the stand-by list.

Oh hehe, Randy got stopped this time through. Apparently we Texan’s sometimes forget that when we get a new belt, it might respond like a Glock .45 would. Oops.

Before I continue, I should note a few things. This was a quick trip. All of my luggage was carryon. One of our consultants is from Canada and we were doing an exchange of sorts. I was bringing him some special spices, and he was going to bring me some beer. So, I’ve got a 6-pack of beer now in my roller board that I’m going to carry on the plane.

We get there and sit down for a quick bite. Then the gate agent shows up and I run up there and see how bad the stand-by list is. It’s bad. Even with gold status, it’s not looking promising. Boarding time is 1:46, but they say they will hand out passes to stand-by folks after 2:00. Flight leaves at 2:16. Ok, whatever, they will board late.

WRONG

They boarded the ENTIRE flight, and THEN assigned stand-by. What does that mean for Brando? His approved roller board gets checked! I’ll be damned if I’m checking a bag with 6 bottles of tasty beer in it. I personally like my luggage dry.

Well….. I get called and am the last stand-by to get on. Sorry Jeff & Randy. Hosed. So I get all the way down the jet bridge and unzip my suitcase, whip out the 6-pack, and zip back up.

Why does everyone INSIST on being a comedian when some dude walks on an airplane carrying a 6-pack of beer? “Generic Joke Here!” and “Haha, generic jab there.” Jeebus…. I stuck it up in the overhead compartment, took my middle seat and read home. Boy did I want to crack open one and just chug. Screw paying $5 for a beer in coach.

Anyway… I made it home, safe & sound. Got my new IOGear MiniView KVM switch. Still playing around, but so far, digging it

Yeh, I changed again. N5BX. Nice 1×2 ring to it. Think I’ll stick with this one.

Anyway, if anyone out there can recommend a good 4-port Ethernet card & a 4-port Modem card, lemme know. I’m in the market.

Wow, one of those longer weeks. Not long and tough by comparison to many in this world, but certainly an interesting one. Denver was fun, though it sleeted on me while I was there. The next morning was absolutely glorious though; Golden is so beautiful. Of all of the places I have traveled to (and no, it is nothing that amazing, but I’ve been a few places in the states), I think that is the only one I could consider living.

Hey, anyone wanna buy a Jabra Bluetooth Headset?

Anyway, off to the weekend. Filled with chores, but I’ll find time to relax

You know, working from home I get to be removed from the Office Space like fun of the cube-farm. On the rare occasion I am placed in one for a client (I personally prefer conference rooms), it always amuses me what people say. It’s worse than standing in line at Starbucks around smoke-break time.

Sitting next to me today (THE WINNER IS…..), there is some project manager who is totally bitching at someone over the phone and has been for the last 20 minutes. Even the refuge of the iPod has not totally drowned her out. Her voice kinda has that trashy-hot ditzy tone, but I’d prefer not to really run into her because I know I’d just get a kick out of messing with her, and that is probably not a classy professional consultant thing to do.

(Turning up iPod volume again)

Jeez. Oh and speaking of winning the prize, on the flight up here today there were a couple of groups of folks flying together. One group was comprised of a gaggle of women in their 30s-40s that I have no idea where they were off to. I’m watching down the isle as some of these people board and all the sudden I see a lady with these oversized novelty star sunglasses. And I won apparently, because she sat next to me! whee. Luckily, I was pretty engrossed in catching up on my reading and she did not take too much opportunity to chat.

(the bitch fest continues)

Anyway… I’m off to enjoy someone else’s cube for another few minutes before quitting time.

Need anything? Hopefully the 2 feet of snow is melted!

Yep, I was banned from ladders for 6 months, but dammit if I needed to get the anemometer cable situation all taken care of. The way we left it was pretty bad. Although the long cable idea was halfway working, I think Dad was right about cable length. There just did not seem to be the voltage on the line to get the full signal back to the unit. I solved my problem by getting a wireless addon to just the anemometer which is now hanging on the chimney facing south (solar powered).

So I threw an A-Frame up there (I will still stay away from extension ladders for a while) and got it all fixed up. No more phone cable strewn across the lawn or through gutters. It’s all happy day now.

My shoulder is still pretty sore, but other than that I’ve just got a colorful reminder of my fall from a measly four feet. I was not even doing anything cool. Bummer.

This week is not nearly as busy as last, but we hope to complete the week by getting the antennas up on the house. I’m ready for this nice radio I bought to receive more than just TheTicket. Otherwise, right now it’s just a VERY expensive AM radio. I painted the tripod black yesterday with some semi-gloss Rustoleum and it looks sweet. Going to do the antenna today. Would have done it yesterday, but I ran out of daylight. Sucks that the primer I bought is the same color as the antenna, white. I’m going to have to sand it down a bit I think.

Anyway… out for now.

Please punch me in the arm. Hard. But only my right arm right now. Why you ask?

Well… I got a weather station and was putting the anonemeter up on the house. I was on the roof, everything was fine. I go around back to staple the cable to the house and after a few ladder moves, I am up on the house one second, and on the concrete the next. I only fell 4 feet so it was not enough time for me to do anything other than think “What??”

So after running to the horsepistol, it seems that I have only sprained my wrist & shoulder on the left arm, and finger on the right. Nice lesson to learn, though I won’t get to test out my new found ladder knowledge until 6 months goes by apparently. I’ve been banned.

The anonemeter seems to work, but I need Matt to help me route cabling today. Maybe sometime soon Kevin can come help me put this antenna on the roof since I will have no means to get up there for a while.