tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14326527032537754032024-03-14T13:49:31.685-05:00Stephen W Nolen BlogPersonal comments, reivews and suggestions from an I.T./Car/GTD/Home Automation/coder/Local Government kind of guy.Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-50238170747049428462024-01-08T09:57:00.002-06:002024-01-08T09:57:42.010-06:00Remembering Ginger<p>
</p><h1 class="western">
Remembering Ginger
</h1>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">January 8<sup>th</sup>,
2024</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2ukVIN68gudXgol60eugdH8VVh7ThBRAEFpI5gsRM6ic7QzOhl9H5uLvEe3kB8SKSR2oZheyDc8q4odm705rxHsW8CC5TU3ldL3fEfDsd2zN1mWD_lAeSzMCsNkIFtvZDN8ObwzuQQxhyCDUc7wCeIPaazqEUNIDJcVJncTDqKHG3pT1UC6Eo-XykjU0/s2592/IMG_0487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1936" data-original-width="2592" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2ukVIN68gudXgol60eugdH8VVh7ThBRAEFpI5gsRM6ic7QzOhl9H5uLvEe3kB8SKSR2oZheyDc8q4odm705rxHsW8CC5TU3ldL3fEfDsd2zN1mWD_lAeSzMCsNkIFtvZDN8ObwzuQQxhyCDUc7wCeIPaazqEUNIDJcVJncTDqKHG3pT1UC6Eo-XykjU0/s320/IMG_0487.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">From the first time
I saw your picture shared at the rescue, I told Karen we have to get
this dog. I can’t say why I felt like that, it just struck my
heart. We made the contacts and it wasn’t too long before you were
in our home doing zoomies when you ran into our living room and into
our hearts on that February 2012 day.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">You were always the
sweetie, but also the sneaky one, stealing toys from your brother Li.
We were able to enjoy nearly twelve years with you, snuggling with
you, loving you, and watching you run, play and be the active one.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Always the picky
eater, you drove your brother crazy long after he had scarfed down
his own food and thinking he should get yours too. You shared your
love with us, but also scared us when you’d run out of the house
when the front door was opened even slightly. When you disappeared
from my mother’s yard one Thanksgiving day, we grieved and searched
frantically until mom’s neighbor came carrying you up to us having
found you in their garage.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixT9ggIn3XI1dr9VVcKP-r3FCLo-jxN8zKECl4mWKDClWVzpPsw99iqw8bkW7BaMKdDP-0BXsq0Vm6_OQ3hHlToLOkJzCtTlIOX9Im2hRbZQV9WRVNnyHuTS5H-LX3aOynOWS8oCUtdkOlLNax92rf1YY0rIJoIxzXzUt8OwaGNM1nJeMq4FSaQZ-R_xn7/s612/427405_3296882507754_562693379_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="612" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixT9ggIn3XI1dr9VVcKP-r3FCLo-jxN8zKECl4mWKDClWVzpPsw99iqw8bkW7BaMKdDP-0BXsq0Vm6_OQ3hHlToLOkJzCtTlIOX9Im2hRbZQV9WRVNnyHuTS5H-LX3aOynOWS8oCUtdkOlLNax92rf1YY0rIJoIxzXzUt8OwaGNM1nJeMq4FSaQZ-R_xn7/s320/427405_3296882507754_562693379_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Life is short and it
was hard to watch you begin to age with kidney problems and slow down
from your usual fast pace. However, each day was enjoyed and
appreciated as you snuggled up in our bed at night. Once the picky
eating turned into no appetite, we knew in our heads your time was
near, but it still doesn’t stop the heart from hurting.<p></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Karen snuggled you
in her chair during your last days, and I carried you around our land
trying to let you see the outside world you used to enjoy when you
could run away
mocking
us slow humans trying to catch up with you.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">You enlightened our
lives, kept your brother busy, and gave us unquestioned love. </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">We hope
you enjoyed your time with us, as much as we enjoyed it with you. We
will miss you, girl.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p><style type="text/css">h1 { margin-bottom: 0.08in; background: transparent; page-break-after: avoid }h1.western { font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold }h1.cjk { font-family: "Noto Sans CJK SC"; font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold }h1.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Devanagari"; font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }</style></p>Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-37209614470256133762022-07-30T07:58:00.000-05:002022-07-30T07:58:46.849-05:00 Lessons of Appreciation<div class="separator"><p style="clear: left; float: left; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">It’s interesting
how we tend to take things for granted in our lives. We don’t
notice it until it’s gone, which is quite a shame. From
relationships, to housing, jobs and careers, friendships, and family,
we really do not often consider what we have until it’s gone.
</p></div><p><br /></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGY8RwdtQ3HQ5ez3xS4mRO0X0YvMuiDzPXCw7kkW1FgGXkLUr9VK5r0axsu6eUtxNSZZOrZYBh0kmKsiRIaRUPQC3gCE1XE8XFOzsAOhKg9PRA3y4IVQRQTJ_3n3grFJvm0XzRqBgAlRWKJ_Swq69yIfM_vUgRKivZTqRxrS7apOPRr9P4tr_i7vt-kw/s1280/life-1-170575156.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGY8RwdtQ3HQ5ez3xS4mRO0X0YvMuiDzPXCw7kkW1FgGXkLUr9VK5r0axsu6eUtxNSZZOrZYBh0kmKsiRIaRUPQC3gCE1XE8XFOzsAOhKg9PRA3y4IVQRQTJ_3n3grFJvm0XzRqBgAlRWKJ_Swq69yIfM_vUgRKivZTqRxrS7apOPRr9P4tr_i7vt-kw/s320/life-1-170575156.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />When a storm
recently knocked the electricity out at our house, I couldn’t count
the times I automatically turned on a light switch thinking the light
would come on like it always has. Luckily we have a generator that
can power key portions of our house, but it’s still odd how I flick
those switches in the areas that don’t have power.<p></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">One of the most
common situations we take for granted is our health. When we are
healthy, we don’t even consider being unhealthy. I know personally,
I never had second thoughts about walking and getting around until my
hips began to fail. Even today, as I recover from my second hip
replacement, I watch people get up and simply walk, and immediately
understand how lucky they actually are.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">As I continue to
improve, I hope I can remember what it was like not being able to
easily walk without a cane or walker and hold that privilege closer
in the future. Look around, you likely have many things are well that
you won’t appreciate until they are gone. Appreciate them today,
just in case.</p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-71415857019022433742021-12-31T08:24:00.001-06:002021-12-31T08:25:26.043-06:00<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let the New Year Begin – Welcome 2022</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">W</span>ell it’s over –
2021 is past history. Good, bad, ugly, or wonderful, those times are
gone and we start our new adventures now. Personally 2021 wasn’t a
bad year. I did try to “enjoy every day” and tried to fill my
time with as many things I like doing as possible. I was slowed down
greatly by advancing osteoarthritis in the process, but kept on
keeping on as best as possible. The last two weeks were the toughest
with my hip replacement and starting that recovery, but again I feel
I was lucky and just took each day as it came, easy or hard.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxY6enB5b0tzf5UC7p0uxMoWDy07Ttp8x6w0Z4kjecFilklKr7lW-wwr48kstTsWnjG26UOIp_UYIbK9t37hm3Ju9Vp7Pz9SqEVbOhbU5BbHkYsFDLXI5ZgiW-lxO2dPFI9ibrwEXGAXxYiokhuVjrJ6hzetXgqBz62p_SvYnDteCX0Crg-z_N3EaJPw=s519" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="519" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxY6enB5b0tzf5UC7p0uxMoWDy07Ttp8x6w0Z4kjecFilklKr7lW-wwr48kstTsWnjG26UOIp_UYIbK9t37hm3Ju9Vp7Pz9SqEVbOhbU5BbHkYsFDLXI5ZgiW-lxO2dPFI9ibrwEXGAXxYiokhuVjrJ6hzetXgqBz62p_SvYnDteCX0Crg-z_N3EaJPw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br />Twenty twenty one
did present some insane changes around the globe. Especially scary
trends towards dystopian societies with obvious government over
reach forcing people to make decisions of liberty versus livelihood.
Decisions people should never have to make, especially in a “free”
country such as the United States. Will we recover from this in
twenty twenty two, or is this the trend that is now accepted by
society as the new normal? We can only hope and pray freedom and
liberty wins in the end.<p></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">I continue to feel
very fortunate that I have the benefit of being retired and not in
the mess of choosing liberty over livelihood. I also feel lucky I
live in an area that isn’t quite as insanely bent on controlling
the people like many areas around our nation an world. But things can
change quickly, so I plan to continue to be prepared for the worst,
while planning for the best for 2022.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">My goals for 2022
are pretty simple; Enjoy Every Day doing the things that I like doing
as much as possible. There is likely another hip replacement in my
future, but I will deal with that when I’m ready to hopefully. I
love my hobbies, or interest and am thankful and happy I have the
ability to work and enjoy them. My newest hobby will be learning the
ropes of my little CNC router and finding uses for it, but the cars,
motorcycles, 3D printers, home automation, solar power, gardening,
writing, robots, electronics, bicycles, RC cars, and more will
hopefully all be in the mix as well.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Welcome 2022 –
Let’s get rolling and pray for the best possible outcome!</b></p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }</style></p>Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-57470481239794707482021-07-30T10:08:00.002-05:002021-07-30T10:08:54.083-05:00Divide and Conquer<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Divide and Conquer... </b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAl7yXS0wSB_d2JhVgk9sw4_L909hznNeBRt8wbg418ikfd5ZRWuNYF1S9eeDZEcsvNM0CgbdTfBDYgKm-upRonS4Uh8ZPXwKljTxnguk9dfuKuqDM3R6sbfJbe5aUsyfVyb8F3qLxnWI/s800/59367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="800" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAl7yXS0wSB_d2JhVgk9sw4_L909hznNeBRt8wbg418ikfd5ZRWuNYF1S9eeDZEcsvNM0CgbdTfBDYgKm-upRonS4Uh8ZPXwKljTxnguk9dfuKuqDM3R6sbfJbe5aUsyfVyb8F3qLxnWI/s320/59367.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by RACE,
pitch the blacks against the whites, the natives against the non
natives, the east against the west.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by AGE, pitch
the young against the old, the boomers vs the hipsters, the babies
against the abortionist.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by ECONOMICS,
pitch the rich against the poor, the entitled against the workers,
the middle class against the rest.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by POLITICS,
pitch the left against the right, the capitalist against the
socialist, the anarchist against the communistic.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">D</span>ivide
by HEALTH, pitch the frail against the healthy, the fear mongers
against the conspirators, the logical against the emotional, use the
pandemic to it’s full fear factor.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by MASKING,
shame people who do, shame people who do not. Make it required by law
even though loads of evidence state otherwise.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by RELIGION,
Christians are the current targets. Shame them for their beliefs,
force them to “bake the cake”.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by Vaccines,
make the un-vaccinated second class citizens, shame them for their
“selfishness”, generate fake hate between the sides.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by GEOGRAPHY,
big dirty urban vs hillbilly rural, make them hate each other for all
their various differences, instead of common beliefs.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by FEAR, keep
the public afraid of anything and everything. A citizenship shaking
in fear mongering of all types is less likely to come together and
fight the true threat.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Divide by the PAST,
stir up the hate, make it personal, offer rewards for the past
transgressions than none of the living experienced to keep the hate
alive.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">The can be NO
balance, races must hate each other although they rarely do. Ages
cannot work together, although they have for eons, the rich can’t
help the poor and the poor can’t help themselves, although one can
rise above being poor and the rich do share their wealth. The left
hates the right and the right hates the left, there is no compromise,
although the best times have been achieved through balance and
compromise.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Make sure the
healthy are shamed for not protecting themselves, or protecting
everything else by their personal actions, even though true science
proves neither. You’re an idiot if you don’t mask, but only
idiots wear masks, but a personal choice makes the most sense. You
must be vaccinated, but the cure has caused more damage than all past
cures combined. </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">The city sucks with the most homeless and crime, but
those rural rednecks are a threat to the nation, but the nation is
great because we have had both to support each other. Make sure and
drag up the past as something evil and dangerous to the present.
Erase the history to protect the future, although the history will be
repeated without the knowledge of the past.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">But most important
of all is divide by FEAR, fear of national security, fear of health,
fear of the future, fear of the past, fear of the government, fear of
your neighbor. You must continue to be afraid, very afraid, and the
government will come to your rescue. However, that “rescue” will
be complete control of your life, your travel, your money, and
eventually your mind.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Divide and Conquer,
Divided We Fall. </b></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>What will it take to become “United We Stand”
again?</b></p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }</style></p>Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-35717038245702596332019-10-01T20:22:00.000-05:002019-10-01T20:22:06.341-05:00Land of Equal - Opportunity, Not Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkZ0jzq1NGSHQ8O0NDB8R50vWdjK1kKPCJm6TGdrHH548al89cjM4u8pN0x0OkGaRD6Q9E1WuQ_Kxi7A6DvuWBIjzgHxOtoEecOyz6-HAfiWJR4Fw_0sGXR4QgqNNbZ1-S-k49rJxOUH3/s1600/negative-e001-512.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="294" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkZ0jzq1NGSHQ8O0NDB8R50vWdjK1kKPCJm6TGdrHH548al89cjM4u8pN0x0OkGaRD6Q9E1WuQ_Kxi7A6DvuWBIjzgHxOtoEecOyz6-HAfiWJR4Fw_0sGXR4QgqNNbZ1-S-k49rJxOUH3/s320/negative-e001-512.png" width="183" /></a></div>
It seems that too many Americans have forgotten what this country was built on in my opinion. The entitlement mindset is quickly taking over our nation, and apparently our world as individuals believe they are "owed" something in life. One would think this would be unique to to the U.S. but it is quickly becoming a world wild downward slid.<br />
<br />
That mindset quickly leads to a lazy ass world where people think someone ELSE is supposed to take care of their needs and generally that someone else appears to be the "government". This country was founded on hard work, individualism, and persistence and without that mindset I think we will quickly fall into yet another "3rd world" country that can't support themselves much less others.<br />
<br />
This is indicative not just economically but in many other areas as well. We want a pill to fix all our health issues instead of taking on the responsibility of our own health. It's someone else's fault that we are mad, or sad, or hurt, or even happy anymore. It's someone else's fault I can't get a job, not that I have no skills or a degree that is useless in a productive world. It's the policeman's fault I'm in trouble because he caught me, not like I was doing illegal things. It's the judges fault I'm in prison. It's the legal gun owners or NRA's fault some idiot killed someone. The list goes on.<br />
<br />
I hear these things daily and it's full blown entitlement and lack of self responsibility. It's also the easy way out, which is why it's likely so popular as we have fallen from a nation of self support, self confidence, and self building to it's someone else's job to do it.<br />
<br />
No easy fix in sight either which is the worse part of the situation. My two and 1/2 cents... Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-40765417599464015292019-09-19T08:11:00.002-05:002019-09-19T08:11:11.974-05:00Don't Be StupidIn today's world it seems every time there is some problem, some concern, something different that people don't like some lawmaker somewhere comes up with a new law to address it. We are a country of millions of laws... literally. Nobody knows them all and I'd imagine we all be surprised at how few are enforced.<br />
<br />
With all these laws in place and all the law makers trying to keep us all "legal", it seems to me nearly all of these could be fixed with one single law...<br />
<br />
"Don't be stupid"<br />
<br />
That seems to sum up all that is needed to function as a society. Think about how that can be applied across the board.<br />
<br />
Don't be stupid and kill people.<br />
Don't be stupid and steal stuff.<br />
Don't be stupid and cheat.<br />
Don't be stupid and hurt anyone.<br />
Don't be stupid.<br />
<br />
Just Don't be stupid- fixes a lot of the worlds problems.<br />
<br />
Not like that's going to happen but seems to be a solution.<br />
<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-53409026609570565912019-03-10T11:07:00.002-05:002019-03-10T11:07:42.454-05:00It's The Process That CountsI've now spent about 60 years on this big round ball (yeah, I'm not giving into the flat earth stuff yet) and have completed a few things during that time. With "things" being jobs, projects, goals, challenges and more. I've built things, broke things, fixed things, rebuilt things, re-broke things, explored new things, enjoyed old things, and tried new things. These things range from bicycles, Lego animation, go karts, old cars, motorcycles, automated homes, big and small computer networks, dynamic websites, patios, carports, computers, robots, 3D printers, relationships, policies, processes, and beyond.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdDHzypMF_-zriLpIMgkT0jPzh6DY__L0CSOZOJplFE0H5Cf2h3oG565YmOj7yKa-QNVBtC7ALUA6SCWXNTT5PUxnMcHl_2ea2MaeG3rMGFKXR9ATqOVIwFIQSzSKpF_i7eltfcAzaJE-/s1600/The+Process.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="355" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdDHzypMF_-zriLpIMgkT0jPzh6DY__L0CSOZOJplFE0H5Cf2h3oG565YmOj7yKa-QNVBtC7ALUA6SCWXNTT5PUxnMcHl_2ea2MaeG3rMGFKXR9ATqOVIwFIQSzSKpF_i7eltfcAzaJE-/s320/The+Process.png" width="320" /></a>I've found for my purpose, it's not the end result thing that counts, it's the process of getting there. Figuring out the process, finding the right design, making the new part, making it all work out, getting the right algorithm, assembling the code or finished up parts, or working through the wording on that new policy, is the part I actually enjoy, usually more than using the finished "thing". It's not that I don't want or enjoy the end result, be it a paper, car, bot, process, computer or whatever, it's just that getting there was as much or more fun than the results often to me.<br />
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I guess that's a good thing since, as in life, getting to the end isn't the real goal. I'm glad I never felt I was only "working for retirement". I worked for 45 years from car hop, cashier/sacker to outside plant engineer and on to Chief Information Officer, but enjoyed each of those stops along the way and what was involved in making each job work the best it could. I remember working on Long Range Outside Plant Plans (LROPPs) for many Bell wire centers and, although I was happy to be finished with each, the end product didn't have as much meaning to me as the working through the process.<br />
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Interestingly enough, in the Information Systems career that followed, the end result of your work had a very short "shelf life" so the job required constant "processing" to keep it updated and relevant. Maybe that is why I liked it as much as I did. The same feeling is there for cars, bikes, robots, and more. The end result is cool and fun, but the process was the most fun.<br />
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I'm glad I enjoyed the process of life so far, and hope to enjoy the process of retirement for some time to come. In reality, life is just a series of "now" moments strung through seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and decades, so life's plan really should be "enjoy each day" ... and the "process" of that day you have been given.<br />
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-Stephen W Nolen<br />
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<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-58932093624172689432018-12-07T19:00:00.000-06:002018-12-07T21:13:16.133-06:00Saying Goodbye to the City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I walked through the City of Shawnee Oklahoma City Hall doors on January 10th, 2000, and sat waiting for then Finance Director Jim Wilsie to welcome me to the City of Shawnee as a new employee, I really didn’t have a clue of what the future really looked like here. I had actually always wanted to work at the City of Shawnee, having spent seven years at the City of Tecumseh, and three at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation building technology solutions and supporting their goals. When I received a phone call from James Roberts about Shawnee exploring a possible “Systems Administrator” position, and what it should pay and how it should look, it peaked my interest.</div>
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Little did I know I’d spent nearly 19 years here, and at least try to keep us moving along the never ending technology treadmill. We did make progress, deploying working solutions, and continued to improve our operations. We were ahead of some cities, and behind others in our technology ventures. It all depended on time, money, and motivation during that time. </div>
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Sadly to me we’ve watched the core function of information systems department move from being change and efficiency drivers, to “defenders of the fort” simply trying to keep the bad guy from burning down what we have built. I truly believe that has slowed down progress in our department as much effort has had to be made on building security systems, training users, and deeply monitoring systems to identify and stop any threats. I hope that gets better before it gets worse, but the online world really is a nasty place anymore.</div>
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As I walk away from the City of Shawnee I see big changes on the horizon, and that’s a good thing. It’s time to explore new options, solutions, and processes and actually deploy some of the true cost saving solutions that have been “in the list” for way too long. Here’s wishing good luck to everyone that will making the future with the City!</div>
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Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-44143421504323359862018-11-04T16:04:00.002-06:002018-11-04T16:04:24.899-06:00Chapters...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Life</span></b> really is like chapters of a book when you look back. The introduction to the story of your life, the rising action and build up to exciting times, the climax where you've done the best you can and are enjoying every day, the falling action or wind down when you finish out your career or see your children go off to their own, and finally, the resolution or closing, where hopefully you are happy with it all.<br />
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We all experience some of these during slightly different ages, I suppose, but I'm sure all of us who are older can identify with the basic concept. <u>Unfortunately, </u>many do not get to enjoy the full book of life, when things end early or abruptly, so those who get to enjoy the book of life all the way through, <u>are indeed quite lucky.</u><br />
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<h3>
Our Introduction</h3>
During our youth, we are establishing our character, building our ethics and morals, and deciding where we are headed. As toddlers learning right from wrong to teens testing the limits of parents and society, we mold ourselves into the human we will likely be from now on. Our parents, grandparents, friends and enemies, all play roles in these early days and make us the unique individuals we turn out to be.<br />
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Our Rising Action</h3>
During our late teens and twenties, we may be learning the skills of life, building our careers, work and life experiences or having our own children to mentor and enjoy. Often our children help drive our motivation to do good in the world, to do the best we can and to be the person they would be proud of. We are learning, living and loving life and beginning to realize how special it is.<br />
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Our Climax</h3>
At some point we may feel like we've done our good for the world, be it our children, work, volunteerism or other life accomplishments. We should be happy with our accomplishments and look back at our life, so far, with pride. We aren't all so lucky to feel or see that, but I believe that should be our goal. For some this may be our 40's, other 50's, or even older, depending on the individual.<br />
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Our Falling Action</h3>
Our falling action years would hopefully be our golden years of retirement, resting, thoughts of our past with good memories and taking time for ourselves to enjoy the world, without the need for work or daily actions, unless that is what we really enjoy doing.<br />
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Our Resolution</h3>
In the end we finish out, hopefully knowing we did do the best we could, that we stopped and smelled the roses along the way, that we presented the best example we could as a human being, and that we enjoyed each day to our best ability. Those late years in life are very special and hopefully we have no regrets during this time.<br />
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We all should step back and make sure we are writing our book of life the way we hope it will be.<br />
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References:<br />
<a href="https://literarydevices.net/plot/">https://literarydevices.net/plot/</a><br />
<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-15765381617449648062018-10-05T18:00:00.000-05:002018-10-05T18:00:08.686-05:00The Lucky Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I would imagine that most of us have lived the "Lucky Life". We've been blessed more than we usually realize. Some of that "luck" may be partly due to hard work and perseverance, but you may be lucky to have that drive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have to remind myself of the Lucky life I've often had. I wasn't born into a rich family but never lacked for things as a child. I watched my dad and mom work very hard for what they had and provided for us. From trying their own business to my dad driving hours a day for a better job, and mom working when she could downtown, they set a great example. Maybe I was lucky to have those examples in front of me that helped my "luck" continue in my life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe I was lucky to always feel valued and loved by my parents, sister, family, and all those around me. I remember friends that weren't so lucky in that area, but most of them changed that luck as adults ensuring their kids never felt the same. I was lucky to be smart enough to do well at what I wanted to do but also lucky to not be so smart, making it a burden to feel normal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was lucky to find employment when I wanted and never lacking for a job, but then again I was "lucky" enough to see those opportunities and follow through at the right times. I used my skills and brain to make sure my luck continued in my career by trying to learn all I could and be ready for the next big thing. That helped luck along often I feel, as I watched the technology world grow, change and accelerate at an amazing pace as I rode along these past nearly four decades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been lucky with health, I'm sure, as well, never having had major problems although "luck" may be lacking in that area as one ages. This is the one area that seems the most important as you get older, as without good health, other things in life are harder to enjoy, I'm sure. I have tried at least to hedge my bets on the lucky health side by not abusing the one body we have too much, and by never smoking or drinking to excess. Some things you can't change, and heredity is obviously one, so luck may not have a whole lot to do with health... but then again it may.</span><br />
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I'm lucky to have my wife, Karen, through thick and thin and enjoy our time together every chance we get. <span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been lucky to have a close immediate family and a wonderful son, who was a joy to raise, teach, and learn with and experience life with. He's now lucky to have a family of his own with our first grandchild little Stella Jo Nolen. His and Tandra's luck has already started with an extended stay at Children's hospital from an early showing by Stella, but a joyful outcome of them settled into their new home and life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I hope to be lucky in old age and retirement as well, and enjoy the twilight years on my own terms, enjoying simple things I like to do in life and time with family, friends, kids and grand kids. Time will tell if the future is lucky or not but I'm doing what I can to help luck along.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm lucky again to be offered an opportunity to retire a little bit earlier than I had planned to start that "old age" phase. I'm lucky that I'm reasonably prepared to take advantage of this offer and do understand others may not be in the same position. I hope they have luck in moving on to new and hopefully better opportunities in their life as I hope to experience as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I'm sure you've been lucky too, if you really look at things from the right perspective.</b></span><br />
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Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-460771618218033842018-04-08T12:32:00.000-05:002018-04-08T12:32:20.778-05:00Wandering Ways...<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s odd to me how the world, including people, companies and governments, grab onto the latest bandwagon or “viral trend” and jump out of their seats to “change things”. An actual small number of people get attention for feeling “offended” and suddenly everything must change… that is until the next viral topic comes along and then that has to change too.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m no angel but from my life observations this is usually due to the individual, corporation or even country not having guiding principles, morals, or ethics. Basically no “moral compass” to keep on the right track during turmoil or disruption. Based on what we’ve seen in the USA the past decade or two it’s pretty obvious. Corporations driven by greed, governments driven by control, and individuals driven by entitlement.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without that moral guiding compass, people, companies, news media and governments lose their way during the temptations, disruptions, and squeaky wheel situations and jump at the latest “threat” usually over reacting and creating more turmoil in the long run. Nothing actually gets improved and now the rest of the world is offended or unhappy.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">To me, a “moral compass” doesn’t mean a certain religious, lifestyle, political ideology or other. It means doing the right thing for everyone involved with logic, sustainability, and compassion be it individual, company or government. It means taking care of yourself first but taking care of others in true need. It means not being distracted by the latest viral trend. It means staying the course you planned but being aware of what is short term versus long term concerns.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we would guide our life, companies, governments and world with true quality principles, we can weather the storms and truly assess what should change and what should not change just because it’s the latest “trend”.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">My two cents… no returns or refunds.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">-Stephen</span></span><br />
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<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-64409965351838818132018-02-06T16:59:00.001-06:002018-02-06T16:59:45.834-06:00Smart Home Version 10?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original Web Front End</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Ok, maybe it’s not version 10 but I have been through a LOT of major version changes in my home automation / smart home history. Starting way, way back in the 1980’s with a Commodore Vic20 running as a dedicated controller for turning on and off X10 lights based on my “programmed” schedule and some X10 control pads around the house, through SEVERAL different PC versions of X10 based controls, to a dedicated Time Commander+ setup in the middle 1990’s, to a TC+ version and my own interface to fake keystrokes into the control software, then an integrated TC+ and web services version. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJm42bHlHGPSZe7vVoLGUZEj80Ssuqm-CostjMJ-rL8NKol1qo8fl7MS1lZKpabhrkXd2LoZhyWyTut0leuBF1h9GRUKlJvDT5vPROUzrppVL1aA70NTIaN1oU_qzGdLruHnCa_Kn0n9vz/s1600/NolenWAPScreen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="389" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJm42bHlHGPSZe7vVoLGUZEj80Ssuqm-CostjMJ-rL8NKol1qo8fl7MS1lZKpabhrkXd2LoZhyWyTut0leuBF1h9GRUKlJvDT5vPROUzrppVL1aA70NTIaN1oU_qzGdLruHnCa_Kn0n9vz/s200/NolenWAPScreen.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WAP Access - Simple Pull downs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Around this time some very basic WAP pages were developed to allow remote phone access for those nice </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">limited Nokia phones. It worked just fine and was just a list of things to scroll up or down to and click on. With smartphones showing up the mobile interface was updated to a full html style page and formatted to fit the small screen. That interface is still the main front end I used day to day but is on it’s way out. Next to an expanded version of that with Arduino and ESP8266 end points and now my migration from my now “legacy” system over to a dedicated Raspberry Pi3 running Home Assistant / Hassio. That could be more than 10 actually.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAuw2lfwnxSYKh-w1uwqHypOjy7Me33KyWqthEyEsXO5uisS-ICZs9OqoLi1j0bUM81KkumrDXXuCI0pblGB5_4ud7wPTnkVSXrVnqtnF1L3j1vEyGIqOKOWE6jyBOepwibCjKGgvhN-x/s1600/NolenHome2018-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="607" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAuw2lfwnxSYKh-w1uwqHypOjy7Me33KyWqthEyEsXO5uisS-ICZs9OqoLi1j0bUM81KkumrDXXuCI0pblGB5_4ud7wPTnkVSXrVnqtnF1L3j1vEyGIqOKOWE6jyBOepwibCjKGgvhN-x/s200/NolenHome2018-02.jpg" width="129" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mobile Web Access</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been questioning myself over what is the next version or phase of smart home I’ll be moving to for a while. Actually for a few years now. Obviously X10 is dead and has been for some time but that is what all my controlled devices were built around. Watching the Z’s (Zigbee and ZWave) battle it out, I never made a commitment to either. I did buy one Insteon wall switch that could do both X10 and their own power line carrier (PLC) but at their price point I could see it was going to be way more than I was willing to pay for budget wise to move everything that direction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Then along came the Internet of Things (IoT) and WiFi device disturbance along with what seems like a million different protocols, options, and “apps” to use. I always loved how my home built web service put everything into a single site of controls so there was no way I was going to “app hop” to turn lights on, then arm the alarm look at cameras, etc. In the meantime I was slowly deploying my own ESP8266 IoT things on my network for temperature monitoring and some endpoint / relay controls but using my own HTTP API processes to do so. I had checked out Smartthings when they were a startup but after being bought out and up by a corporate giant my interest waned.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XXfkIYgQ1Nj1grkiahX05unHMYfILs2JSagblaihRQk8RcawVb64PyXrCwDl_XIf_G0i_khmZ_Px9VFSSyr5NuLioU5DS8qz4SBauioZpMuqqZcXKah5v_T7ew0-EwRbK0ag_WP2Yc8j/s1600/HassioBasicScreen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="962" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XXfkIYgQ1Nj1grkiahX05unHMYfILs2JSagblaihRQk8RcawVb64PyXrCwDl_XIf_G0i_khmZ_Px9VFSSyr5NuLioU5DS8qz4SBauioZpMuqqZcXKah5v_T7ew0-EwRbK0ag_WP2Yc8j/s320/HassioBasicScreen.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hassio Control Screen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally during my wanderings around the web I ran across Home Assistant, or more specifically for me Hassio. I had actually recently picked up a Raspberry Pi3 on a whim as I knew I really needed to learn more about them and I had a $50 gift card on Amazon burning a hole in my pocket so to speak. I’ve coded in microcontrollers for years, check that, decades from 68HC11 devices through BX24 chips and for the last several years on the Arduino platform. I’m not saying I’m good by any means, just have been using them for my own fun. Seeing Hassio was basically made to run on a Pi3 with little effort I figured it was worth a try. Honestly the install was dead simple and before long Hassio was running and finding devices on my network.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">So my goal now is to slowly, well I really want to do this quickly but time and money come into play so it's slowly, migrate all my old light switches, inputs and outputs, and automation routines over to Hassio and grow it from there. I’ve migrated quite a few switches, have text to voice working, have Alexa and Siri listening and responding, and am working on migrating my automation routines over. Learning YAML and its idiosyncrasies was a bit troubling at first as I am a quite sloppy coder but after a few thousand errors and fixes I’m getting better.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsK-tJZmJVVFggNd4gFT-r1Fjhk1PbEkocVv2zOvsETDmf0oUdcIQptedRlV-9xI2v2GQCO0jxAOX0VouJLU0bd4Qk14QopsCVUuxWU9UZSSNuGRCf6goLzA-vh8g_ijBfNYfO4D1ejZS/s1600/HADashboard2018-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1600" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsK-tJZmJVVFggNd4gFT-r1Fjhk1PbEkocVv2zOvsETDmf0oUdcIQptedRlV-9xI2v2GQCO0jxAOX0VouJLU0bd4Qk14QopsCVUuxWU9UZSSNuGRCf6goLzA-vh8g_ijBfNYfO4D1ejZS/s320/HADashboard2018-02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HA Dashboard Master Screen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Although the Hassio control screen does it's job well, it's just too much at once and not that easy to customize. Fortunately, the wonderful HADashboard add on for Hassio and Home Assistant, makes it super easy to build out new web interfaces to replace what I’ve built before. With HADashboard one can configure multiple dashboards and customize them for the particular endpoint display as needed. For example my small old phone displays are laid out different than my larger phones versus the Android tablets versus the old Ipad devices. You can setup your “widgets” and then include them in your dashboards adding easy re-usability of existing code.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I have to say version “10” (or maybe even higher) of our automated home is better than the old versions of the past and continues to improve. There is much work to do including moving inputs and outputs such as the washing machine, dryer, garage doors, alarm system and other sensors over to the new system but this will actually be easier as ESP8266 end points will be much easier to build out than running wires everywhere.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Watch for more details in the future as this decades long adventure continues…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>Resources:</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><u><br /></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Home Assistant/ Hassio: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://home-assistant.io/" target="_blank"> https://home-assistant.io/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">HADashboard: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a href="https://home-assistant.io/docs/ecosystem/hadashboard/">https://home-assistant.io/docs/ecosystem/hadashboard/</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">My ThingiVerse Things for 3D printable items I've used:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/Protowrxs/designs">https://www.thingiverse.com/Protowrxs/designs</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To learn more about Home Assistant and DIY Smart Homes in general check out these Youtube channels:</span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li>Dr Zzs at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7G4tLa4Kt6A9e3hJ-HO8ng" style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7G4tLa4Kt6A9e3hJ-HO8ng</a></li>
<li>Bruh Automation at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLecVrux63S6aYiErxdiy4w" style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLecVrux63S6aYiErxdiy4w</a></li>
<li>diyAutomate at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwpl3ZLLDx_LqOnhtFDq8iQ" style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwpl3ZLLDx_LqOnhtFDq8iQ</a></li>
</ul>
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Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-59380358338212837922017-09-27T10:09:00.001-05:002017-09-27T10:09:39.365-05:00Believing in Change<br />
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I believe in change. I’ve been a change driver my whole life through technology and the deployment and use of it. “Change is the only constant” as they say. The older I get the more I do see the other side too however. Age brings experience and when you see what works historically you stand by it.<br />
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Change isn’t always good. Most software companies motto should be “new ways to do things you already know how to do”. Add a couple new features and then change how you do the rest. Do I want to still be using Windows 3.11? Of course not but then again I don’t want to have to use “search” to find a simple setting that used to be two clicks away.<br />
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But on a bigger note, I can’t support change that is more destructive. I can’t support change that criminalizes victims and makes them the bad guy for defending themselves. I can’t support change that victimizes criminals and looks for outside excuses for their actions no matter their race, creed, religion, or culture. I can’t support change that ignores laws such as immigration when there are legal methods in place. I can’t support change that disrespects our country and those that have fought for our freedom. I can’t support change that seeks to legitimize violence to suppress free speech and then uses free speech to justify their actions. I can’t support change that attempts to divide our citizens by race, religion, geolocation, or culture. I can’t support change that encourages reliance on others and ridicules self reliance. These may be change, but there is good and bad change and sometimes it seems we can’t see the difference.<br />
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These are changes we have seen for years now that is destroying what we are about as a nation and change that does not move us forward but backwards as a nation. I can only hope we change how we see these actions sooner than later and keep what works, actually appreciate living in the greatest nation on the planet, and actually change what needs to be fixed instead of tearing down what works.<br />
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That’s my two cents of change...<br />
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Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-30459336376849259742017-01-27T18:00:00.000-06:002017-01-27T18:00:20.242-06:00Does Your 3D Printer Tweet? Or Email or Text?<h2>
Does Your 3D Printer Tweet?<br />Or Email or Text?</h2>
Get an email, text or Tweet from your 3D printer lately? No, why not? Well, OK, it’s not REALLY from your printer but it’s still pretty handy to get a notice when that print job is done if you’re not sitting there babysitting it.
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-aff302d1-dd91-b869-41b8-365447079093">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<a href="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/Zeyd__Fi2EtQnCyM6JY5pPBPhaB1-cFp8-GmFJOVfieI7HY-_r6X9qwf3lSC2-9etUluM6PbYkYCD0hQC5P3iQ7_MeGytqT_1dvmr7mXv1OEjr_tvwJn9Ibsr2i1z6Mg1ySg6DMw.jpg">
<img class="auto-style1" height="317" src="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/Zeyd__Fi2EtQnCyM6JY5pPBPhaB1-cFp8-GmFJOVfieI7HY-_r6X9qwf3lSC2-9etUluM6PbYkYCD0hQC5P3iQ7_MeGytqT_1dvmr7mXv1OEjr_tvwJn9Ibsr2i1z6Mg1ySg6DMw_small1.png" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border-color: inherit; float: right; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="320" xthumbnail-orig-image="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/Zeyd__Fi2EtQnCyM6JY5pPBPhaB1-cFp8-GmFJOVfieI7HY-_r6X9qwf3lSC2-9etUluM6PbYkYCD0hQC5P3iQ7_MeGytqT_1dvmr7mXv1OEjr_tvwJn9Ibsr2i1z6Mg1ySg6DMw.jpg" /></a></span></span>If you’re using PronterFace or any other PC based printer control that supports external commands you can easily get email or text notifications when print jobs are done or if there is an error. In fact with some free email to Twitter options such as TwitterMail.com you can put your 3D printer online and have it Tweet when it’s done.
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This will cover how to do this on a Windows machine for the details but Linux gurus can easily replicate the end results I’m sure.
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PronterFace has an option under the Settings / Options menu item and the External Commands tab to run external programs for printer start, printer final, and printer error situations. With this we can run any program we want to for our purposes we will use some simple VBScript to make it happen. This could just as easily be done in PowerShell if you’re a PS expert.
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First we need ability to use an SMTP server somewhere. If you have an account with SMTP.com or are running your own SMTP server somewhere then it’s easy. For a local SMTP server just ensure the IP you’re PC is using is able to send email through the server if local and make sure you know a valid username and password for either option.
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-aff302d1-dd92-2cfa-b5a8-7cd281527c93">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<a href="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/mEmx86iOfmipTL9G-9eFGroii3cf-JdG0odB0M5asQxjCrFJft6UG-Qb_3QbsExCN_zm8C3zlZm_0huI_6NZSN4zKab5vGdRMPqWseGKEeTCzCh3vAjBktzXe_-GvfqMhQh4JK3w.jpg">
<img class="auto-style1" height="123" src="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/mEmx86iOfmipTL9G-9eFGroii3cf-JdG0odB0M5asQxjCrFJft6UG-Qb_3QbsExCN_zm8C3zlZm_0huI_6NZSN4zKab5vGdRMPqWseGKEeTCzCh3vAjBktzXe_-GvfqMhQh4JK3w_small1.png" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border-color: inherit; float: right; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="320" xthumbnail-orig-image="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/mEmx86iOfmipTL9G-9eFGroii3cf-JdG0odB0M5asQxjCrFJft6UG-Qb_3QbsExCN_zm8C3zlZm_0huI_6NZSN4zKab5vGdRMPqWseGKEeTCzCh3vAjBktzXe_-GvfqMhQh4JK3w.jpg" /></a></span></span><br />
You can even use Gmail to send the messages if you desire but it takes a little bit more and lessens the security on your Gmail account. If you want or need to use Gmail it might be best to create another GMail account just for this to insure your main account doesn’t have any other risk. The reason is that you do need to lower the security level for “Less Secure Devices” after you log into the Gmail account by visiting this link and making the change: https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps. Additionally you will have to store the email password for the gmail account in open text in the script which is obviously not good either. Once you turn ON access for less secure apps, our script can then send email through that Gmail account.
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Once you have an SMTP server accessible then the rest is rather simple. We can setup the following command in the PronterFace or other print controller to run your .VBS script to email the notice. In PronterFace your external command should be like this:
“Cscript.exe C:\3Dprinting\SendEmail.vbs” where the path is where ever you put the VBS script from below. The script is a little messier with the TLS requirements vs if you run your own email server and can simply whitelist the IP of the host computer but either works.
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<h2>
Super easy way with your own SMTP or use something simpler like SMTP.com:</h2>
<pre>Set Arg = Wscript.Arguments
If arg.count > 0 then strJob = arg.item(0)
SendEmail “WhoTo@from.com”, “Gray Hair 3D printer just finished print job “ & strJob
Sub SendEmail(ToAddress, Subject, Text)
Set MyEmail=CreateObject("CDO.Message")
MyEmail.Subject=Subject
MyEmail.From=”MrWallace@Protowrxs.com” ‘ Whatever you want/need the FROM to be
MyEmail.To=ToAddress
MyEmail.TextBody=Text
MyEmail.Configuration.Fields.Item ("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing")=2
'SMTP Server
MyEmail.Configuration.Fields.Item ("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver")="<local etc="" ip="" smtp.com="">"
'SMTP Port
MyEmail.Configuration.Fields.Item ("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport")=25
MyEmail.Configuration.Fields.Update
MyEmail.Send
set MyEmail=nothing
End Sub
</local></pre>
<h2>
More Complicated when using GMail:</h2>
<pre>Set Arg = Wscript.Arguments
If arg.count > 0 then strJob = arg.item(0)
‘Call the sub like this
'SendEmail "<to address="" email="">", "<email line="" subject="">", "<email body="">"
SendEmail “WhoTo@from.com”, “Gray Hair 3D printer just finished print job “ & strJob
Sub SendEmail(ToAddress, Subject, Text)
Dim iMsg
Dim iConf
Dim Flds
Set iMsg = CreateObject("CDO.Message")
Set iConf = CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
iConf.Load -1
Set Flds = iConf.Fields
With Flds
.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpusessl") = True
.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpauthenticate") = 1
.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusername") = "<gmailaccount><gmailaccount>@Gmail.com"
.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendpassword") = "<gmailpassword><gmailpassword>"
.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver") = "smtp.gmail.com" 'smtp mail server
.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing") = 2
.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport") = 465 'stmp server
.Update
End With
With iMsg
Set .Configuration = iConf
.To = ToAddress
.From = "<gmailaccount><gmailaccount or="" other="">@Gmail.com"
.Subject = Subject
.TextBody = Text
.Send
End With
Set iMsg = Nothing
Set iConf = Nothing
End Sub
</gmailaccount></gmailaccount></gmailpassword></gmailpassword></gmailaccount></gmailaccount></email></email></to></pre>
<h2>
Tweeting Your Print Info using TwitterMail.com</h2>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-aff302d1-dd92-7d9d-2237-edaf96bb8e96">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<a href="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/bunHzEZl-nvnPASOIUI8em12EIQDM2AMUP_cPY_sPl6HxRkXx-GUjGmTMPkCiZOZ1zR7UkUJ1zLKqZ_NP-iSNLHCZJK8tmBPv3_OYIAHb8sjXJqnfPY_nSf22-lPgO6Tmhmv0y7m.jpg">
<img class="auto-style1" height="172" src="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/bunHzEZl-nvnPASOIUI8em12EIQDM2AMUP_cPY_sPl6HxRkXx-GUjGmTMPkCiZOZ1zR7UkUJ1zLKqZ_NP-iSNLHCZJK8tmBPv3_OYIAHb8sjXJqnfPY_nSf22-lPgO6Tmhmv0y7m_small1.png" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border-color: inherit; float: right; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="320" xthumbnail-orig-image="http://house.protowrxs.com/3dPrinting/TweetYourPrint/bunHzEZl-nvnPASOIUI8em12EIQDM2AMUP_cPY_sPl6HxRkXx-GUjGmTMPkCiZOZ1zR7UkUJ1zLKqZ_NP-iSNLHCZJK8tmBPv3_OYIAHb8sjXJqnfPY_nSf22-lPgO6Tmhmv0y7m.jpg" /></a></span></span>You can have your printer Tweet when it’s done as well by using the free Twittermail.com or TwitterCounter.com service.
<br />
Visit the <strong><a href="http://www.twittermail.com/" target="_blank">http://www.TwitterMail.com</a></strong> site and login with your Twitter credentials. Once logged in go to the Settings / TwitterMail option and you’ll see a unique @Twittermail.com email address that can be emailed to in order to Tweet something. Then you can simply email to that @twittermail.com email address to Tweet your printer message.
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Doing the Text Thing</h2>
I’m sure there are some better ways of sending an actual text and this will likely only work for some carriers but at least for AT&T one can send an EMAIL to <phonenumber>@txt.att.net and it will forward it as a text messages. I believe Verizon and other carriers offer similar but have no clue on non US carrier options. It work for me on AT&T at least.
</phonenumber><br />
<h2>
Other ways? Your Way?</h2>
Of course this will not work if you are printing from an SD card or MKS controller, etc that I know of. But I usually have a PC running my print jobs so I have a bit more control over it.
<br />
<phonenumber>
</phonenumber>
Do you know a better or different way of doing this? Post up your solution.
Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-5318785729166638612016-05-13T19:00:00.000-05:002016-05-13T19:00:30.083-05:00Left/RightDon't be so Left you don't see what's Right but don't be so Right you don't see what's Left.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
Make sense? Let me explain then. When did we become a nation of Left VERSUS Right? Where did the balance go and the blinders go on where we can't see that politics, like everything else in this world, has to have a <a href="http://blog.stephennolen.com/2016/02/losing-our-balance.html" target="_blank">balance or things simple are not sustainable</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir5g56CeSeJ_WS2NGRVbLBQMuTP-1U1ImM85FmzPHJs7PJJ6bKxbQOR9hBVp2dOKBuOUVbl5xtio4HSoi7fjEe8VyLXZprSwi85jWPPA9vCdlNwB9WdwOqdSUj984LAZUven5xYD5GcwXO/s1600/LeftRight1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir5g56CeSeJ_WS2NGRVbLBQMuTP-1U1ImM85FmzPHJs7PJJ6bKxbQOR9hBVp2dOKBuOUVbl5xtio4HSoi7fjEe8VyLXZprSwi85jWPPA9vCdlNwB9WdwOqdSUj984LAZUven5xYD5GcwXO/s320/LeftRight1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
So don't be so Left you Can't see what's Right. That we can't see its Right to want people to support themselves and be responsible for their own lives. It's Right to abide by the second amendment and allow us to bear arms. It's Right to insure business and capitalism grows and provides jobs and economic growth. It's Right to allow freedom of speech and expression even if you are offended by it. To see that it's Right to have a strong military even at the cost to protect ourselves and our interest. We have to see it's Right to use natural resources to better our world and lives.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But don't be so Right you don't see what's Left. We have to take care of those Left behind in today's world and help them succeed. We have to deal with what's Left over from racism and history and acknowledge the hate and work towards solutions. We have to insure big business leaves something Left for the middle and lower class that isn't just left overs. We have to insure what's Left of the world and environmental resources is everything that was there to start with to sustain it long term. We need to understand there is room Left to have other or even no religious beliefs if one so desires. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We need a mending of extremes in this country to restore the balance required to survive. But it should be noted that sustainable "balance" isn't two extremes way out on each end of the limb balancing each other out as that situation is ripe for catastrophic failure when, not if, one extreme fails taking the whole system down. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You don't have to agree with me, your neighbor, your friends, family or the President of the United States, but you do need to understand that <a href="http://blog.stephennolen.com/2016/04/divided-we-fall.html" target="_blank">"United We Stand, Divided We Fall"</a> and recently we seem to be more divided than I've ever witnessed in my life at least. Time for all of us to look for the balance. </div>
Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-6981406077698102032016-05-06T18:47:00.000-05:002016-05-06T18:47:01.205-05:00The Age of Magic?Do we live in an age of magic? Yes? No? Follow along and see if you agree or not...<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Magic</b></div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<header class="luna-data-header" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="dbox-pg" style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); box-sizing: border-box;"><i>noun</i></span></header><br />
<div class="def-set" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-bottom: 17px;">
<span class="def-number" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; padding-right: 5px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); box-sizing: border-box;">1.</span></span><br />
<div class="def-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 37px;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">the</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">art</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">producing</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">illusions</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">as</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">entertainment</span> by the <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">use</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">sleight</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">hand,</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">deceptive</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">devices,</span><span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">etc.;</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">legerdemain;</span> <span class="oneClick-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;">conjuring:</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
Things we take for granted would likely be magic to those from the past, or even really for us here today. Look around your house, do you know HOW your TV works today? Your computer? Your cell phone? Heck anymore even your computerized refrigerator? You drive your car every day but I bet you have little knowledge of how the thing really works inside, computer controls and all?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygxrvgBjc3X3yJ-H9CXX_CVJUKcwhYAsuHPI6iiIKkOQsJOoAtSLFP92XEZMyECOr3HB9aaaeqrhpXg800kyxwPMq5wgihpCLDDkJxGlHygL9HzekF5gQFqCBSGw2TBh_DSKECj6d0NmN/s1600/7202974500_793c4300dc_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygxrvgBjc3X3yJ-H9CXX_CVJUKcwhYAsuHPI6iiIKkOQsJOoAtSLFP92XEZMyECOr3HB9aaaeqrhpXg800kyxwPMq5wgihpCLDDkJxGlHygL9HzekF5gQFqCBSGw2TBh_DSKECj6d0NmN/s320/7202974500_793c4300dc_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Now think about someone from 75-100 years ago seeing this stuff.... "Maaaagic". Today we take this stuff for granted but most of us do not really have a clue how it all works. Of course things are only going to get worse... or is that better? With the advancement of artificial intelligence and self learning algorithms even the experts that designed and started them admit they really do NOT know how it is now working after being trained. Would it all be magic if we jumped forward 75-100 years? I'm sure it would!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Indecernable human looking robots with the knowledge of the Internet and beyond hooked into their brains for instant ultimate intellegence. But more than that the ability to understand, feel, express, and either have compassion... or have true anger at the "robot repression" of the "past". Will they integrate with humans or force humans to integrate with them? Maybe just toss us aside as a nuisance. Sound too far out? So did a handheld device that billions would own that you can ask questions by voice and see or talk to someone around the world anytime you want to just a few decades ago. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Even today, from self learning AI algorithms that schedule your planes push off times to those that automate the selection and delivery of your on one orders, to those that will drive your future self driving car, to learning the best settings for your personal home heating and cooling, the magic continues. <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The magic of yesterday is the reality of today. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Will it be white magic or black magic? Only the robots know for sure. </span></div>
<div>
<br />
BTW yes that is a robot girl, HRP-4C is her name and that was seven years ago - More here:<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HRP-4C" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HRP-4C</a><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f5f6; color: #212124; font-family: "proxima nova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-80173688395623651132016-04-29T19:00:00.000-05:002016-04-29T19:00:27.352-05:00What About the Cars?So what is it about cars that so many people around the world just seem to love?<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOx8zX5JEsZcxBPr1Pje9887dcvaoQZNo8uS7LyqUTyAvq9hLnfUhAru1WGaF_W7zQnn6F5iy61wW0EtqZqDxKRmsIt6IVtn-RCfDSdb7qt1kthCACTTGPcSFU-yCxjX0dwpMz4OddYdW/s1600/11822418_10207626024875535_5272788708853495817_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOx8zX5JEsZcxBPr1Pje9887dcvaoQZNo8uS7LyqUTyAvq9hLnfUhAru1WGaF_W7zQnn6F5iy61wW0EtqZqDxKRmsIt6IVtn-RCfDSdb7qt1kthCACTTGPcSFU-yCxjX0dwpMz4OddYdW/s320/11822418_10207626024875535_5272788708853495817_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and the old '69 in 2015<br />
20+ years off the road was way too long</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's not just an American thing, people from all over the world have a love for cars and trucks, although obviously different types and tastes. Non car people just can't "get it" just like I can't "get" someone wanting to watch most (non car related) TV shows I guess.<br />
<br />
It's actually rather amazing of how many different types of car aficionados there are. Some just want to buy and sell them, some want to just own them, some want to drive them, some want to race them. Some want them perfectly like new from the factory even thirty or forty years later and some want them cut up and modernized, some want them fast... OK, most car people want them fast, but some want them slow and powerful.<br />
<br />
Just looking at racing types alone there are so many options from dirt roundy rounders to drag racing, rally racing, road racing, drifting, stock car, F1, city to city, off road, Baja, hill climbing, rallycross, ice racing, and obviously many more not listed here including my least favorite demolition derby car killing.<br />
<br />
Sure there is the constant bantering of Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge vs every other brand out there but get the bunch together and they will likely all help each other get a car running or ooh and ahh over some cool ride that rolls up. Some of us like the street, some like that strip, some like the dirt and some like the auction houses better but most will appreciate the efforts of others with just a few arse-holes as the exception.<br />
<br />
Some of us may not want to own a 48" tired lifted F350 or a bagged Merc cruiser, or a rusted Rat Rod, or a strip only dragster or a turbo four cylinder powered 80's car but most of us still appreciate each vehicle for what it is and where it came from. The history, the work to get it where it is now, the vision and persistence of the owner.<br />
<br />
There are car people that never touch a wrench and car people that wrench daily. Owners that never drive and drivers that never own. Everything from lawyers and doctors to teachers, computer programmers, bank presidents and fast food workers (those are not in any order in the car world) that are "car people". There are still shade tree mechanics and mega corporate sponsored multi car operations but they all have a love of cars in common.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLwtB6xwHs4bExmkIV3Sp6oyQvt4lDGyieNpWvR_6AkjQA7j4n9ZqLJrRNL5dGwF_qmIJfVnzzUxqftJ25LWG5vdv6qzyMtGaSqdjQ6xNG2m3PKU94uAiyVvg2yZAVL3HK0kHdx-nRtzI/s1600/12651369_10208838481266187_5516670754531298402_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLwtB6xwHs4bExmkIV3Sp6oyQvt4lDGyieNpWvR_6AkjQA7j4n9ZqLJrRNL5dGwF_qmIJfVnzzUxqftJ25LWG5vdv6qzyMtGaSqdjQ6xNG2m3PKU94uAiyVvg2yZAVL3HK0kHdx-nRtzI/s320/12651369_10208838481266187_5516670754531298402_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If this were the 1980's I'd be a rich man...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Obviously I have my favorite types of cars and trucks and own some of those and I have my favorite type of car person. My favorite type of cars are Fords overall with the street being my environment. However, the car people I actually admire the most are the do it yourself people that like the DIY world. Likely because that is how I am, also likely to a fault, but seeing the work someone has done themselves instead of farming out to someone else always earns more respect from me personally. <br />
<br />
I honestly like building more than driving them and tinkering through the challenges of getting it all working, updating it and even making it as original as can be with the resources at hand. From rebuilding an engine from scratch, welding in new panels, wiring it all up after the mice had their day, and seeing it come back to life after years of decades of neglect. My weakness is paint and body but I have a few years left I hope, maybe that will work out. I've also always wanted to do more interior work as the little I've done felt quite satisfying.<br />
<br />
So if you're a owner, building, tinkerer, engineer, or just trying get it running again, hats off to car people. The future is sketchy at best for our breed with a changing world ahead. Enjoy the now and go work on your ride!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCp7J8D96RGgJigjnQL2Q2tuUt6rc40dSqBgktb6yNN-_e16_72bxQnVtIocVCQE2v52OmZdZA_rxXmhmYHkuRab6YTYYLjDMyPYl6DnzDy8HMq7sZj2dcxBlMIRPPCcNSW2AWDD1_Qeuk/s1600/defaul3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCp7J8D96RGgJigjnQL2Q2tuUt6rc40dSqBgktb6yNN-_e16_72bxQnVtIocVCQE2v52OmZdZA_rxXmhmYHkuRab6YTYYLjDMyPYl6DnzDy8HMq7sZj2dcxBlMIRPPCcNSW2AWDD1_Qeuk/s320/defaul3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time Flies - Go Work on your Project</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-61161669272310277132016-04-22T19:00:00.000-05:002016-04-22T19:00:00.269-05:00Divided We Fall...I know everyone has heard the "United we stand, Divided we fall" saying. The saying goes back to Aesop and has been used in America for centuries. In my opinion it stands true today but today we are in the divided side, not the united one.<br />
<div>
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<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEj_yt2ORliKljFtGMnTESla_NkzFrJb7eUSs-CTVucaCQDM2DkfgDjihjLFFyyZi85z_1Yr6tkMy0k-9WCaBgssDQSAZBHCjHNQlgdhFE_YRpDRCC3eVkUPCXUW6ql40f_Oq3fcVki_h/s1600/divided1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEj_yt2ORliKljFtGMnTESla_NkzFrJb7eUSs-CTVucaCQDM2DkfgDjihjLFFyyZi85z_1Yr6tkMy0k-9WCaBgssDQSAZBHCjHNQlgdhFE_YRpDRCC3eVkUPCXUW6ql40f_Oq3fcVki_h/s320/divided1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
From race, sexual orientation, and religion, to politics and wealth, and even law enforcement we seem to have fallen out of balance and many feel it's "my way or no way". Sure there are many bad things that have happened here over the centuries but we generally stand together in the end despite our differences for an overall bigger need. We used to seem to know that we MUST all stick together in the long run in order to survive and thrive. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Today the drive for "tolerance" seems to have no tolerance. I personally think I have <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">tried to have the "live and let live" mindset and that seems to be the exception any more. I don't HAVE to agree with your politics, lifestyle, "genderality", sexual orientation, religious beliefs, race or other differences but unless you are trying to force me to do the same against my internal guidelines, or are harming another person or property, you should be able to do what you want. Of course, there are exceptions that ruin lives, place loads on society or others that need to be understood but again, those are exceptions.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Life is a balance and the balance must be kept. Nature is a prime example of the need for balance. When something in nature gets out of balance, things go bad quickly and damage is done until balance is once again achieved. Everything must be sustainable to continue to exist. The world, nations and individuals are no different in my opinion. </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, to me, achieving balance isn't accomplished through forcing others to change their beliefs, it is accomplished through understanding of both sides by both parties and mutual agreement at some point. You shouldn't have to be ultra liberal or ultra conservative to be elected to lead us, neither is self sustainable. You can't riot and destroy things because you disagree with something that happened, especially when the full story isn't known, there are processes for this. You shouldn't bastardize gays or others in the name of your religion known for love and forgiveness and you shouldn't deem all non believers of your religion must be killed. You can't suck up 98% of the wealth in the world and expect the world to keep functioning in balance. There is no balance in any of these and is not sustainable, at least in a country as diverse as the USA.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
By concentrating on our differences instead of of common traits, common situation, common time of the world we live in, and common needs, we could be so much better off. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of "drama" in that way of thinking and drama seems to be the lead mindset in the world today, especially in the extreme media and self reporting we hear and read each day. By listening to the extremes we only reinforce our belief in the extremes thus propagating the differences instead of the common concerns. </div>
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Are there inequalities on America? Sure there are, just like any other place on earth. But don't use extremes to justify the means. There are usually underlying reasons for things that need addressed and burning or stomping flags or outlawing them isn't going to help either. It's just a diversion and another extremist expression that the drama driven world loves to see. </div>
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<b><i>But United We Stand does NOT mean united on the Left or united on the Right, it means United as <u>Americans </u>of all races, creed, religions, ages, economics and all.</i></b><br />
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Believe in what you want to believe, lets others do the same, and remember this country has survived by being "United", not divided and until we once again become the "UNITED States of America" our future is not in balance and questionable at best. </div>
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Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-58948237851165152892016-04-20T20:00:00.000-05:002016-04-20T20:00:32.463-05:00Man writes blog, you won't believe what happens next!What is it with these types of headlines anymore?<br />
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Does every headline have to be drama driven click bait and not tell you anything real about the story?<br />
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The older you get the more you remember the "Good Old Days" I guess... the days when a headline told you the premise and the story the details. You didn't have to play the drama of "You won't believe what happened next" to want to read the story.<br />
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Back when you could actually read a story without having to click "Next" fifty times to read the next tiny portion of the story or wade through forced advertisement inserts between every third or forth piece. Or even before the world of "Idiocary" where content actually filled the majority of a website instead of that tiny area of content with ads surrounding everything else?<br />
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Remember the hilarious big screen from the 2006 movie Idiocracy?<br />
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Now take a simple look at a "Health.com" story and compare - we are almost there. Even the content from the move TV show is pretty accurate with today's content we have available... :-/<br />
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Sure that's the web versus the actual TV but have you tried to watch a TV show and the full lower third is filled with ads, logos, and other "information" you could well do without?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8nFWjTRNDqSUdaNUKfc6cWeQEdKD9NbXdGX8Fuei9xW_xlTDdMUJ6q3axKnoxfECfoJjDc2AZ5-l87DJiE5bF48W085pHlRg8t3Rpbsua3TjdPg6XyPS6-tT2i6oSQJvupqLSYuEsxJbx/s1600/Idiocracy-tvToday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8nFWjTRNDqSUdaNUKfc6cWeQEdKD9NbXdGX8Fuei9xW_xlTDdMUJ6q3axKnoxfECfoJjDc2AZ5-l87DJiE5bF48W085pHlRg8t3Rpbsua3TjdPg6XyPS6-tT2i6oSQJvupqLSYuEsxJbx/s320/Idiocracy-tvToday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Welcome to the world of "Free" where the content may cost no dollars but life is measured in time, not money and that continues to get sucked away clicking "Next" or waiting for the ad for something you'll never buy timeout or play through.<br />
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Yes, I remember the good old days... and yes there were ads on TV back then but there were far fewer and far less invasive.<br />
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Have a happy life and keep clicking on the click bait and the NEXT button, life will be over before we know it.<br />
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Footnote: Yes, for those technically inclined reading down through this: I know there are ad blockers, host file modifier options, and other browser options. Not so much on a tablet though, especially iOS, and that is where the future lies for most.<br />
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<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-5164156480858667202016-02-20T14:59:00.000-06:002016-02-20T14:59:07.635-06:00So what have *I* done?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUFyscb7Y4DzjysU4kT34DA7qEtYe9R5E4t8w66_p_FpMvkD2-NqYvqYHDMqUhsDw6GZaB50d5_W4ymDjPaLO205Ic9z0vpZCayNuG6PPoxJK-PbsqAWkKKV3cITJwE4UFrp8fLFIyB-z/s1600/BlogCloud1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUFyscb7Y4DzjysU4kT34DA7qEtYe9R5E4t8w66_p_FpMvkD2-NqYvqYHDMqUhsDw6GZaB50d5_W4ymDjPaLO205Ic9z0vpZCayNuG6PPoxJK-PbsqAWkKKV3cITJwE4UFrp8fLFIyB-z/s320/BlogCloud1.png" width="320" /></a><b>IF</b> you get older you always seems to look backwards to see what have you really accomplished, what have you really gotten done, what have you experienced in your life. Sometimes it is with regret, sometimes it may be with pride, sometimes it is with "what the heck just happened"? I'm no different and usually I'm in the what the what the heck just happened category.<br />
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You can look at the past, you can plan the future, but you can only live the now. I'm sure we've all heard that before and it's not bad advice. I like to look at it from the "learn from the past, hope for the future, but enjoy the present" mindset.<br />
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I know that's really hard sometimes when you're stuck behind a desk, or vacuuming the floor, or doing things that you'd rather not be doing but that moment is really all we have.<br />
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But really looking back for me I've had fun doing the many different things that I have none. I've always been a "jack of all trades and master of none" kind of person and I've actually enjoyed that experience. From knowing<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> how to take apart a bicycle, a motorcycle engine, or even a car engine, fix it or make it better, put it back together and then enjoy the results, I've created the solution and code that let's me control things and see what is going on in our house from anywhere in the world in 1999 way before "online house" meant much, </span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">I've built things from small robots that entertain and roam around the room or let me tell them what to do and talk back to me, to RC lawnmowers help me mow, made stop motion videos out of Lego, built custom chopper bicycles from junk bikes, and turned an old riding lawn mower into a go cart.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">I've "saved" a few cars from being scrap like my 1988 Turbocoupe, 1985 Mustang SVO, and 1989 Ranger 4x4, kept my 1969 Mustang that was first car in 1974 and nearly completed rebuilding it with nearly everything done myself. I already have another rescue under way in the form of a 1966 Galaxie 500 fastback that Austin and I are building. </span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">I've built a some patios and car ports, put up a few fences, developed a few database back ends and websites, and written code that keeps a lot of a city running. I've raced radio control cars and won a few trophies, flown quad rotors in the rain and lost one, rode MX motorcycles way above my head and fell off a few times in the process.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Sure I haven't solved world hunger, saved any lives, or changed the world in any manner and doubt I ever will. I haven't made a million dollars, created any businesses, or make something the future will be proud of. I have, however, had a bit of an varied life learning, trying and doing quite a few different things and enjoyed the experience of it.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">If you're still reading this you may be thinking wow this is a lot about "me" but then again that is what the title is called, "What have I Done" :-) Note that I did say "IF one gets older", not when. First we must count ourselves lucky if we are the fortunate ones that "get" to get old as many are not so lucky. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">So "L</span>earn from the past, hope for the future, but enjoy the present"... it could always be our last "present" we have.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Stephen</span><br />
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Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-4247011065643744372016-02-07T15:00:00.000-06:002016-02-07T15:00:18.312-06:00Losing Our Balance...<h3>
Balance... Simple word, dire consequences when not maintained. </h3>
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Everything has to have and maintain balance in order to survive. From Mother Nature and wild life, the overall environment, and even the planets, there must be balance or everything goes awry. From financial systems, government, the economy in general, and down, yes down to politics, a balance must be maintained in order to survive and thrive.<br />
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I suggest we, as a people, a nation and a world have lost our balance, <b>or even worse, </b>it appears we are trying to maintain the balance by moving to the extremes of each area to keep it there. Using extremes, be it super rich vs super poor, big government vs no government, using all natural resources vs nothing can be used or extreme left vs right wing politics, to try to keep balance by extremism is very very risky.<br />
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Trying to balance by radical extremism is literally a recipe for disaster because if you actually win, you really lose. You can't use up all the natural resources this earth offers and expect to stay alive as people, nations, companies, or planet. You can't have only an upper elite of super wealthy as they cannot spend enough to sustain the economy that got them there to start with. You can't have a government that provides "free" health care, schools, income and more as there will be no working people to pay for it. You cannot have the only choices in politics be pure socialism or pure capitalism as well as each cannot sustain a long term balance.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOFiQ9FmN4xmowcWUKyga0wQ8kQohw2dHvDt6BoKNX3ypLDTJcrythdiH-U6WViYgr-OqVADuKmuyWIHOhfB86r4GRSwWfCaimM0njGov2nygQaWRkveAits5_-qm7P2L6a8e2HAVGOde/s1600/paro-AL-Tightrope-walker-300px.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOFiQ9FmN4xmowcWUKyga0wQ8kQohw2dHvDt6BoKNX3ypLDTJcrythdiH-U6WViYgr-OqVADuKmuyWIHOhfB86r4GRSwWfCaimM0njGov2nygQaWRkveAits5_-qm7P2L6a8e2HAVGOde/s200/paro-AL-Tightrope-walker-300px.png" width="200" /></a></div>
Trying to maintain balance by by radical extremism is like walking a tight rope with your balance pole being too long and large weights on each end of the pole, but each weight could care less if YOU succeed as each weight is shifting and falling apart as you walk. It might work for the short term but you're going to fail in the long run.<br />
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Are we all really that extreme, are we all really radical haters anymore. We seem to so easily label each other as extremist. You can't support law enforcement without being a racist? You can't be a Christian without being labeled Islamophobic? You can't be Islamic without being labeled a terrorist? You can't cite the continued lowering of gun related deaths without being a gun fanatic but you can't talk about trying to lower that number more without being a 2nd amendment hater? You can't talk about the un-sustainability of either uncontrolled socialism or unbridled capitalism without being labeled one or the other. You can't talk about illegal immigration without being a white extremist? What's happened to the civility of our "civil" society? Are we all really that insecure that we can't work together for a better outcome but instead fall to name calling the first time we disagree? When will the main stream media start focusing on news instead of manufactured drama? These all negatively affect how we accomplish living on this planet and nation and they are all quickly falling to the extremes.<br />
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There has to be a better balance with less extremism and more cooperation on everything in our world. Sure moving those balancing weights close to you while you're on the wire may make the balancing act a little harder but with the weights being shifting radicalism you're less like to fail, fall, die, or kill your country or planet. Radical extremism, be it wealth, policies, race, environment, politics, or beyond, only creates a system of future failure when one side starts to fail and the fall to the other side will not be pretty for anyone.</div>
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When will we see how important keeping a proper balance is for everything?<br />
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I'm hoping I see it in my lifetime but I'm not holding my breath for sure...<br />
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-Stephen<br />
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<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-14376138910776499322015-08-30T11:00:00.002-05:002015-08-30T11:03:30.769-05:00Sitting...<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-p4CpH52RLJwEQxMYV_IZn7LSz4zr4xhyphenhyphen5aM8cQun6gvVO_P-QHBbH_9pVfIDHVKe42ZbtwRFcHjLtXow9hO4AgN9OSHYBxr8BMYJdxIqE6rOxhvrtSg38Vzn7yS5Drq64m_gPeuRK2u/s640/blogger-image--1480845880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-p4CpH52RLJwEQxMYV_IZn7LSz4zr4xhyphenhyphen5aM8cQun6gvVO_P-QHBbH_9pVfIDHVKe42ZbtwRFcHjLtXow9hO4AgN9OSHYBxr8BMYJdxIqE6rOxhvrtSg38Vzn7yS5Drq64m_gPeuRK2u/s200/blogger-image--1480845880.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking at the "new" lot</td></tr>
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Sitting is good right? The older you get the more that seems true at least. I know, I know you're supposed be active and not sitting all the time but I'm talking about sitting to relax, refect, and renew. </div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I do sit all day long at work for the most part and I know it's not good. My back tells me so after nearly forty years of doing it. But having those get away "Sitting Places" at home is what I'm talking about. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking at the house</td></tr>
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I guess I've taken that to heart as all told I think there is twenty two or so outside seats around our place. From on the patio to the old swing in the trees to what I call the "Tree Patio" and off to the "new lot" and into the hammock, there are plenty of places to stop, renew and reflect. </div>
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Some locations let you see the house, some let you see the road, some let let you see open aread, some let you see the sky while others let you see all the yard work you still have to get done. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WVp5kQNOFR5b6HwMbXbqSgB0IF9-srQVbREe1yeCIPnKrbB5K1U1xaqaLi0YI0XNB4NoaYVFBWI4zC3mUc3G0Y_rekPa98qs75innfU65TBdQYn1QyJOSXC_W4PanPmndPlYG9uFf75G/s640/blogger-image--1862625072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WVp5kQNOFR5b6HwMbXbqSgB0IF9-srQVbREe1yeCIPnKrbB5K1U1xaqaLi0YI0XNB4NoaYVFBWI4zC3mUc3G0Y_rekPa98qs75innfU65TBdQYn1QyJOSXC_W4PanPmndPlYG9uFf75G/s200/blogger-image--1862625072.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking a the work to do</td></tr>
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They all let you see the world in a little different way if you just stop and let them.</div>
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Now let's just sit and think about that for a bit...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8M_j2ctgc_PO3Rxy3LhnSpFF_lg3A-b_We21K7iKzQTJ8UAUQRRft7vSeRLsEmOfiSuf7b6235JgAJ4AqFVu99irKnOHpD_kGh7-0kDd2n1GJvcGxgD3cQkIMkkz_eiOzfeFIxmHrUmb/s640/blogger-image--1070428109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8M_j2ctgc_PO3Rxy3LhnSpFF_lg3A-b_We21K7iKzQTJ8UAUQRRft7vSeRLsEmOfiSuf7b6235JgAJ4AqFVu99irKnOHpD_kGh7-0kDd2n1GJvcGxgD3cQkIMkkz_eiOzfeFIxmHrUmb/s200/blogger-image--1070428109.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking at the road</td></tr>
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Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-81674914939391984532015-08-20T22:11:00.000-05:002015-08-20T22:16:01.170-05:00#becauseRoadKill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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That's the hash tag for the HotRod magazine <b>RoadKill </b>webisode and I guess it's fitting. The web show, where David Freiburger and Mike Fennegan throw hot rods together and make a road trip out of it seems to strike a cord among the masses of gear heads around the states. I'm guessing it's backlash from those masses against the mega money built cars and trucks of today that we all think are cool but will never have the six figure pocketbook to build or own.<br />
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They definitely have a following and although I'm not always entertained by their builds or methods I do like how it seems to bring the fun back into hot rodding. Sure they are still sponsored and get freebies the rest of the rodding world can only dream about but they seem to end up making it feel like you could actually do some of that yourself... maybe.<br />
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With the <b>RoadKill Takes America</b> episode spending a couple days in Oklahoma and having enjoyed seeing and talking to Freiburger at Drag Week 2014 I couldn't resist taking a couple days off to see some of their builds on the Hallett road track, the Tulsa drag strip and follow along for a visit to the Hajek Motorsports Museum this summer. The produced version will not be online until December of 2015 and I can only hope that my face isn't in there somewhere but I figured it would be worth a little road trip.<br />
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In the spirit of #becauseRoadKill I decided to NOT take a daily driver and NOT take Interstates or Toll Roads to get there and back. I'm actually glad I did. Although more true along the RoadKill theme would to have been to take the recently running 69 Mustang, I am not THAT confident. Since the old 1988 TurboCoupe just turned over 200,000 miles I figured it would be close enough. Sure, it's a comfy car with cruise, AC, and lumbar seats but it does have a lot of miles, some scary squeaks and moans from the front end, the passenger window doesn't work and it smells like gasoline every time you park it due to a leaking fuel injector. RoadKill enough for me.<br />
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The events in Oklahoma included time at Hallett Raceway where it was supposed to be their Grandpa Charger vs the Vette Kart around the circuit. Although for the most part the cars were a bust with a wet track slowing the charger down and problems with the Vette Kart taking up the afternoon, the time with the crew was nice as there were only 30-40 spectators there. It was nice chatting with other RoadKill fans and fanatics as well with some of them following the crew from Michigan through to Ft Worth.<br />
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Next was drag strip night at Tulsa Raceway and spectators and RoadKill groupies could participate in this one so there was plenty of action on the strip from 20+ second hybrids to 8 and 9 second rockets. That was a good thing as Freiburger and Fennegan spent the whole evening doing #becauseRoadKill trying to fix the General Mayhem to get it track worthy. The 'big' event here was supposed to be the General Mayhem vs the Blasphemi blown hemi powered 55 of Fennegans. After getting the Mayhem driveable there was an attempt but Blasphemi wasn't playing and never made a full pass. The General did run a 10.666 once Freiburger ran a clean pass which is quit respectable with it's Hellcat transplanted power train.<br />
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The best part of the whole trip for me was the visit to the <b>Hajek Motorsports Museum</b>. Brent Hajek is a blast to be around and seems to have the back story for every one of the 48+ cars that were in the museum as well as the many others they have loaned out around the nation. Since Hajek is a big Ford partner, this history was mostly Ford which obviously works well for me. From Bob Glidden's Pinto Pro Stock to modern Cobra Jet Mustangs and all things in between it was very entertaining listening to Brent tell all. We even were able to hear the famous Ford GT-90 car start and rev up in the shop. You really don't hear too many concept cars run, let alone a 20 year old one. Nice.<br />
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I cant' say my little trip went without some drama myself but I did make it back in one piece and that's what matters. However, I'm going to have to do some debugging on the TC as once I got past the noisy passenger window, the double try 3-4 gear shift, the freezing up AC evaporator, and the general squirrelliness of worn out front end, I started getting dropping oil pressure and increasing temps on my way to Hajeks Museum. I know these are factory gauges and a guess at best but they have been stable in the past. First I thought it was low on oil as it does use it and I had driven 325 miles or so by then. When that wasn't the problem I just kept on keeping on and enjoyed the stay at the museum. On the way back, the problem persisted. Under constant load the oil pressure dropped down to the danger zone and temp inched up. Clutch it and coast and oil pressure goes up. Hmm...<br />
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Once I hit Guthrie on my back road way back home, I turned off the AC trying to see if that was the problem. Shortly thereafter the temp spiked up and she starting billowing blue smoke out the back. At that point I figured I had been "RoadKilled" and turned off on a side street to assess the damage and try to think who had a trailer and liked me enough to rescue me an hour and a half from home.<br />
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After letting it sit a few minutes I fired it back up and immediately noticed no radiator fans running. Ah yeah, I had bypassed the computer control at one point to have one fan always on. Quick check and the patched in "temporary" wire had lost connection. Pushed it back in and now we have fan. No more blue smoke either... kind of odd but I wasn't complaining. Maybe that fixed it.... Nope. Oil pressure still drops under constant load but temp was stable now. Limp mode home I guess.<br />
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My solution was to chug up the hills and watch the oil pressure drop and then clutch and coast down and watch the pressure rise. Got me home but I didn't make any friends of those following me for sure. Still a mystery as to what the problem is but hey, it wouldn't have been an adventure otherwise, I mean seriously, #becauseRoadKill.<br />
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<br />Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-77554765307870064462015-07-11T08:44:00.001-05:002015-07-11T12:47:24.250-05:00A Mentor Lost - Godspeed M J MaddenAlthough you know it was inevitable, the news of someone that was a huge influence in your life passing away is never easy to hear. M J Madden passed away July 9th, 2015 making me once again stop and recount my life, my blessings, and the opportunities that have made me what I am. M J made it to 84 years of age and was likely as busy as he could be until the end. He never seemed to stop getting things done even in the later years when I'd see him around town or at the post office and we'd get to chat or catch up.<br />
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He was actually just a bit younger than I am now when he hired me back in 1979 to be a draftsman. I was barely 20 years old, still in college for my Drafting and Design degree, and was looking for a "real" job. I happened upon a friend from the drafting days at votech, Glenn Burton, and when I mentioned I was looking he said to check in with MJ and his business Tel-Elec Consulting Engineers in Tecumseh as Glenn was working there and they needed help. I did, and the next thing I knew I was hired as a newly instated draftsman. The company was small, three owners, a secretary, and a couple of draftsmen, but it was new and exciting to me. </div>
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I drew, and drew. The engineers would take field notes and rough drawings and the draftsmen would turn them into engineering drawings for review for Southwestern Bell Outside Plant replacement. In other words cable replacements in the field. Things were moving along well with good business and then things slowed way down. I figured I'd be laid off, but M J and the other owners kept us on even overlooking a few of us playing Frisbee behind the building when there was nothing to do. </div>
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Soon however, business picked back up as M J and the other owners expanded the work and the area including work in Texas and before long Tel Elec has purchased an empty building on south Broadway in Tecumseh and fully remodeled it with individual offices, a big work area, kitchen and more. High times for a 20 something to have his or her own office back in the 80's. My work expanded as well, soon I was the one helping or even taking my own field notes as to what and where to place telephone cable and how to do things. The big push then was Southwestern Bell had to eliminate all their "party lines" where two or more houses shared the same wires and therefore were limited on their phone use. Amazing to think now that just thirty years ago that was the issue when today billions of people have their own personal mobile number. Times have changed. </div>
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As the work changed new opportunities arrived and others faded away. One major project I'll never forget was here I was, a 20 something in Tecumseh Oklahoma leading the job to design and deploy the CHATLOS system for downtown Dallas and its urban areas. I'm can't remember if that was an acronym or a product brand but the short version is this involved computerizing the air pressure system for telephone cables in the underground manhole system in Dallas and some surrounding telephone exchanges. There were specs for where to place monitoring sensors and where to place monitored air injection points but the rest was for us to figure out, design, and generate the drawings to install all these pieces of hardware to make this work. </div>
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Some other big projects that I could not imagine myself handing off to a 20 something draftsman was the LROPP, Long Range Outside Plant Plans for a lot of local and Texas SWB exchanges. These were bigger, deeper, projects with plant inventory, land use review and density projections, plant and electronic "pair gain" planning and more. Each project took months and we did quite a few. Of course I was looking at how to automate all this paper generation back in the day and had setup several templates and forms on our DEC dedicated word processor system that stored all this on 8 inch floppy disks. It saved us typing time, made it all look uniform and more professional. I have no clue how well the long term plans worked out but I remember bits and pieces of the Shawnee plan we did and do remember projecting growth on the north side more than the south back then. Of course today it likely really doesn't matter much with wireless service and high speed digital electronic voice over IP traffic but it was crucial back then to have a plan.</div>
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M J and partners Larry Epple and Gary Vanmeter are one of the main reasons for my Information Technology career. As a side project Tel Elec purchased a Digital Equipment PDP 11/34 mini computer and had some big plans for selling time share and software services. Although in the long term things moved too fast to make this happened, we did end up with some steady customers for several years that hopefully at least made it worth while. It did for me at least as they gave me access to this new machine and I spent many hours behind a VT100 terminal learning how to code better in its version of User 11 and BASIC. I remember converting a program source code I found that would calculate the elasped time of a drag race car based on the parameters you input for horsepower, torque, traction, weight, etc and then plugging in numbers and waiting... and waiting... and waiting... as the machine crunched the code and gave the answer. I finally added some code to light up the little status LEDs on the keyboard as the code worked through its stages so I'd know how close it was to done. </div>
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This was the mid 80s and the market wasn't clear as to which "PC" was going to rule the world but M J and staff knew the mini world was going away and the PC world was coming so we did buy a PC to start using. There were even big discussion on becoming a re seller for computers in our area so we purchased a CP/M 86 based system and I remember doing a few things on it. Shortly thereafter, the PC/MS DOS operating system was obviously the future and we picked up a Wyse clone 8088 system with 640kb of RAM and a whopping 10 megabyte hard drive... 10 meg, not Gig. I figured I'd never fill that much space up. That is about 1 or 2 of today's digital photo on your smart phone. </div>
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I learned a lot about word processing, spreadsheets and databases on that machine. It was what I cut my PC teeth on and helped me move from the Sinclair, Vic 20, and C64 days of computers at home to a Commodore PC clone. The PDP mini still was the workhorse though and we hosted time share and software development for the City of Tecumseh and ran water billing for a local rural water district. </div>
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In the late 80s the consulting business started slowing down and MJ had problems finding more work. He was traveling a lot in Texas but continued to find jobs to bid on and kept many other contract engineers busy. Most worked out of their house at that time so the office was pretty empty. I always wondered if the doors would be shutdown someday but even after I left in 1991 to take a computer based job at the city of Tecumseh after they moved off our billing system, M J kept the company running from what I know. </div>
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M J never seemed to sit still in the years I knew him. Early on he was always on the phone, traveling, finding jobs or making contacts. Even in his years after shutting down Tel Elec I'd see him running around town, staying busy helping out his son-in-laws business or checking mail at the PO box in Shawnee. He was quite the inspiration and always had a positive outlook, even when business seemed slow and the future looked not so bright. </div>
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Fortunately I did have enough common sense to tell him in the last couple years how grateful I was for his mentoring and the opportunities he provided to me over those early years of my career. How his influence gave me great confidence that I could do more than I may have thought I could. </div>
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His response was honestly shocking. Intead of saying your welcome, he THANKED ME for what I did and told me I was key in keeping the company going in some of those lean years. Quite moving to hear that but I guess not surprising knowing his nature. </div>
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Godspeed M J Madden, you will be missed on this side...</div>
Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432652703253775403.post-15142879489628284502015-06-28T12:11:00.001-05:002015-07-04T20:39:53.790-05:00If cars could talk...<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp5poOztJ4w7eGG17ZyNJHanlv4zCF5-noySI9yLWfGSJ4X-gvQ9kdQiA4v4omTC8zsQ3GqQc6bazcE-3xsiwV1-eHY8A0chdp_kqp6jN3faz8-v_tZ5vAJgM6_0OCy_A964XqU2XRGsQY/s640/blogger-image--354207780.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp5poOztJ4w7eGG17ZyNJHanlv4zCF5-noySI9yLWfGSJ4X-gvQ9kdQiA4v4omTC8zsQ3GqQc6bazcE-3xsiwV1-eHY8A0chdp_kqp6jN3faz8-v_tZ5vAJgM6_0OCy_A964XqU2XRGsQY/s640/blogger-image--354207780.jpg"></a></div>If only cars could talk... What stories and memories they could tell. For me personally the three cars in this picture would have many stories to tell. They have all been in my life one way or another and had pivotal moments and memories attached to them.<div><br></div><div>The 69 Mustang and I go way back to 1974 when it first came into my life. I actually remember seeing the car for the first time on North Louisa just south of Jefferson school. I could not believe my Dad had found this orange, jacked up, mag wheeled Mustang for me, a 15 year old motor head that had already been through the bicycle, go kart and motorcycle phases... Well, maybe not phases as I'm still interested in that stuff today, but Dad saw and drove my interest and helped me through learning about those things. </div><div><br></div><div>The first couple years where pretty quite with the Stang, both figuratively and literally. I left it pretty stock but couldn't help "tuning" the 351 Windsor two barrel motor and painting a few things up under the hood to make it look cooler. However before I was out of high school the hot rod phase started and one pivotal moment was when I chose headers over decorative "side pipes". I really was going to put some simple side pipes on the car like was cool in the day, but picked up some headers and Cherry Bomb style header mufflers instead triggering the performance spiral that took over. In the end the car was not very streetable and a followup rebuild didn't make it much better. What was to be a rebuilding of the drivetrain turned into a 20+ year ordeal and rebuild including a new shock tower, battery tray, floor pans and more... much more. So as of today it runs, doesn't quite drive, but is making its comeback and I'm guessing feeling quite proud. </div><div><br></div><div>I wonder what it thought as it sat outside through many hard winters and summers unable to move and missing it's heart and soul of engine and transmission. Ten plus years ago I tore it completely down to do all the major work and at least finally got it back indoors so it wasn't beat down so much by the weather. I'm pretty sure it gave up on me more than once as time dragged on and progress was slow or no progress at all for months. Other projects were getting attention such as the Turbo Coupe, SVO Mustang, the old 4x4 Ranger and Austin's project cars. Maybe it did see the slow but growing parts pile that would eventually bring it back to life and held onto hope. Maybe it wondered if that moment would ever come. </div><div><br></div><div>The moment did arrive during the week of June 22, 2015 and through seven straight days of getting it back together it was close enough for the old car to limp onto a trailer and make the ride to the Knights 30th annual car show. Maybe it remembered being at the 1st annual show in 1986... or maybe it's gotten old and can't remember some things like its owner does, no telling. In any manner the future is looking up so far and it had a day in the park to sit next to an old buddy, our old 1980 Trans Am that it shared the driveway with decades ago. Maybe they talked about old times as well?</div><div><br></div><div>Speaking of the Trans Am, it was in our lives during a short but important time period. Before we sold it to Jane Wright, the Trans Am was my daily driver in the middle 80's and took Karen and I around quite a few states. It took us on early vacations and our honeymoon to the Gulf coast. It was the factory silver color back then and nearly new. Being able to sit in the car once again recently brought back many memories of those times. At one point Jimmy and Jane had to get rid of the old bird but now it's back in their hands and with old friends. In fact the car has memories of taking them on their honey moon as well so I'm sure it has many stories to tell about both our families. It too sat unused and unloved for some time before Jimmy brought it back to life and likely has its stories of abandonment out in the hot and cold. </div><div><br></div><div>Jerrys beautiful 78 Camaro looks just like it did 30 years ago. It too continues to hold a special moment in Karen's and my life as this was the actual car that we first met in on June 29th, 1980. The car could likely tell the story better but Jerry and I were cruising around Kickapoo in his car since for one, mine was a 1967 Cougar "rescue" car that, although a fun daily driver with my old original Mustang motor in it, was nothing to really look at and Jerrys was a nearly new Camaro. Jerry saw a girl he knew, Crystal, that he wanted to talk to again and she happened to have a friend named Karen with her. Jerry and Crystal jumped in the back seat and I ended up in the front driving with Karen in the passenger seat. We both remember that quite well actually. The Camaro may have been wondering what the heck was happening but we had a good evening getting to know each other and three years to the day later Karen and I were getting married to each other in 1983.</div><div><br></div><div>Now 35 years later, all three cars were sitting in Boy Scout Park together for the 30th Knights show. The first time likely that they were all in the same spot at the same time. I wonder what stories they were sharing with each other while we all sat around and caught up on the missing years ourselves?</div><div><br></div><div>If only...</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Stephen Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393355959108744473noreply@blogger.com1