Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Happy Holidays 2007



December 2007


Woof!


Mom and Dad said that as the family goodwill ambassador, it was my job to tell everyone what we did this year. It was a very busy year for all of us.

I think that the best news is that Mom and Dad are helping me keep Leroy from eating my food. They also made him stop eating Mo’s food. He is very hungry now because of his diet, but he is a lot skinnier, and it’s a lot easier for him to run and jump. Sometimes I confuse him with Mo because they are almost the same size. He still doesn’t play with me like Mo, though.

Another good thing that happened this year is that we moved to a new house. It is in a place called Salinas, which is near my California grandma and grandpa’s house. Our new house is really neat, and every morning I get to track wild critter scents in the backyard. Mom says that we have turkeys and deer and coyotes at our house, but I haven’t ever seen them with my eyes, only with my nose. My dad likes to take me walking across the street to where cows live. In the morning, we can hear the cows at our house. Also, I have two new dog friends at the house next door. Sometimes they get to come over to play. I also get to go to the beach a lot now because it is close, and a lot of times my grandma meets us there with the Aussies. I like to see her because she always has cookies in her pocket. The cats like our new house because there are lots of places for them to hide and sleep and also because they can watch the birds in the backyard.

Before we moved here, we were all very busy trying to sell our old house. The cats had to go live other places—first with Uncle Chris and later with Grandma and Grandpa—because they are too messy. Every Sunday a nice lady named Staci came over to let people walk through the house, and I stayed there to help her sell it while Mom and Dad went to the movies. I guess I’m not too good at selling things because nobody bought it. Now we have a family renting it. I think Staci misses spending time with me, though, because she just got a dog that looks like me.

One thing I like about my new house is that at the old house my mom used to work all the time and sometimes I didn’t even see her at night, but now she only goes to work some days. Even on the days she works, sometimes she comes home to play with me while she eats lunch. She is always home when we go to sleep, but sometimes she has to leave at night to deliver babies. I used to get confused and wake up with her. Now I know that it’s not time to get up yet, and I just wait in bed for her to come home.

Unlike Mom, Dad is busier than ever. He has people from all over the world to help him now. I asked him if they were as far away as Alabama or New Jersey, and he said yes, but some are even farther-- all the way on the other side of world!

This summer, Dad set up a special room so he can see the internets while he exercises. Ever since the special room got built I noticed Daddy has less face to lick and less belly to snuggle, but we get more time together since he sleeps less, too.

This summer, Mom wasn’t working at all, so I got to travel a lot with her and Dad. We went on a long car trip to Lake Tahoe. After that, Mom and I made lots of trips from our old house to the new house because a man named Dana was helping us fix our new house. At first I was afraid of him, but later I learned that he was nice to little dogs, and he made our house look pretty also. Right before we moved, we took a trip on the airplane to see my cousins in Alabama. It was hot there, and we all got lots of mosquito bites. It was a good thing I took my heartworm pill before we went.

Since we moved, we have been lots of the same places again. We got to go back to Lake Tahoe, but this time the car ride was a lot shorter. Just now I went to my Alabama grandma and grandpa’s house two weeks in a row. The first time my grandpa (I call him Daddy Brad) fed me lots of turkey, and I got to play with my cousins Tirza and Aldo. The next day Mama Katie hired a silly man to take a family picture, and I got to be right in the center of it. I also got to make friends with Zoie, who is even littler than I am. Mom was afraid Zoie might not like me, but I think we hit it off pretty well. The second trip I didn’t get to do very much because Mom and Dad were busy all the time going to a wedding. I got a lot of naps that weekend, so I didn’t want to sit still on the plane trip home. I got in trouble because I jumped out of my bag and onto Mom’s lap after take-off. Oops.

Mom and Dad say that we’ll be staying home for a while now because they are worn out from all the traveling, so for Christmas we’ll be seeing friends and family around here. They said also to tell everyone that they are grateful to have so many nice friends everywhere and to wish everyone peace and happiness in the New Year.

Love,

Princess Buttercup

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

oh SNAP! (greenspan zinger)

"I consider the argument that gasoline tax hikes are politically infeasible irrelevant. Sometimes the duty of political leadership is to convince constituencies that they are just plain wrong.

Leaders who do not do that are followers."

Saturday, December 15, 2007

"my dom.tld is smaller than your domain & top-level domain"

Way back when I was a budding internet entrepreneur, but before anyone knew there could be such a thing, my big sister Rebecca picked up on what was happening in the technology world and bought me a t-shirt that read, "my cell phone is smaller than your cell phone."


Well, today I am proud to boast, "my domain.tld is smaller than your domain & top-level domain." http://cdllc.la/

Thursday, December 13, 2007

The demise of Kasparov's bid for presidency, as it relates to human rights and free market competition

You know what? I think the demise of Kasparov's bid for presidency represents progress (if libertarian values are the objective) for this particular political and economic system. Being blackballed* is certainly better than being mysteriously killed.

Can we agree that coercion by bribe is a step above coercion by lethal force.

*Note: Here I am assuming the blackballers were not motivated by death threats.

satisfied cat

Not that you asked, but this is what a very satisfied cat looks like:


Saturday, December 01, 2007

aspiring parallelogram

my apple wants to be a parallelogram

Thursday, November 29, 2007

help! D.A.N.C.E. stuck in head for 4 days

This is more than just like a nuisance: more like a neurosis!  Have you ever heard D.A.N.C.E. by Justice?  It’s infectious like mmm-bop.  Stay away from it, seriously.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

shame... 911 audio, "You're dead," BOOM

There are so many things wrong here (911 audio tape of man saying, "you're dead," before shooting and killing two suspected burglers) that I don't know where to start. For now, let us completely disregard the absurd self/property-defense argument given, taking into consideration the fact that the voice on the phone was in direct contact with a law enforcement officer who was clearly and repeatedly ordering him to not leave his house and not shoot anyone.

And to give the voice on the phone the benefit of the doubt, we will assume he was drunk or perhaps has served time in prison, which could explain why he's acting more like an animal than the moral beings we purport to be.

Wise men have said to always ask, "why we fight." Unfortunately this incident supports my long-term suspicion. For some people, the answer to "why we fight," is simply, "because deep-down inside, I'm itching to hurt someone." In other words, because WE WANT TO.

I'm really disgusted. Let's save this kind of crap for the football stadium, television, and other opt-in, legal recreation, and not make a habit of destroying one another.

Thanks, Drew, for sending me this.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

internet-connected treadmill workstation, beta2

[unless you are some sort of treadmill historian or Crockett-stalker, skip to the latest version, here: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/03/exercise-plan-active-lifestyle-for.html]

########################################

checking in re: the latest revision of the treadmill computing environment. All is will with the Gyration brand mouse & keyboard plugged into the throwaway laptop/webcam server. The only thing close to a problem I've experienced is one time I think I shorted out the battery on the mouse by putting it in sweat. But since I got the pro pack with the backup battery, I just switched it out with the other with no downtime.

The display is some HD thing I got on clearance at Best Buy. The important thing to share here is that I opted for a giant, wall-mountable display + wireless HID devices, rather than trying to find an adequate, "close-up" display on one windows mobile device or another.

Last thing I would say about the treadmill thing (besides don't try this at home and use your kill-switch-clip if you do) is that it makes the workout time really fly by much better than the not-on-demand stuff on cable TV. Seems to make the brain work a lot better, too.

Oooh, and as if on queue, a family member just walked in and said, "did you lose weight?"

"Why yes, I did. Thanks to the new Internet Treadmill Workstation 2007!"

Thursday, November 15, 2007

THE MOST IMPORTANT AAA BATTERIES EVER!

I opened this package from Plow and Hearth, which seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of catalogs. I thought, "why did they send me these 3 catalogs and all this promo stuff when I just ordered from them very recently?"

Then I found it: I have taken delivery of two extremely urgent AAA batteries.



All the crock-o-pottomi in crock-town are tired (it's late), so I stared for at least 100 seconds, two tiny batteries in my left hand, huge wad of packing materials and catalog in the right. And my mind became sort of stuck in a loop, going back and forth: "do I laugh at this or have I just been very slightly cheated?"

I need Lewis Black or Demetri Martin or someone like that Maddox guy with a real chip on his shoulder to help me make funny with this!

Thoughts come to mind such as the common bank practice of processing checks in order of highest amount to lowest, to maximize overdraft fees. Or banks delaying online bill payments 5 days to hang on to the money longer.

THESE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AAA BATTERIES EVER!

g'night.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

time machine for your website content management system (CMS)

There has been a lot of talk about "time machine" backup that's built into the new Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, so I figured it would be negligent of me not to plug my new web business....

The CMS we install for clients has built in backup archiving (versions sans branching), so the possibility to revert to any single version of any backup is intrinsic to the content management system and therefore already part of your website.

"but wait, there's more..."

Time machine for your CMS is not just for administrators anymore. Install a special widget on your page and allow visitors to time travel, too!

>>> Time machine for your desktop Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard workstation ....
>>> Time machine for your website content management system!

Monday, November 05, 2007

treadmill computing platform, beta1

[Note, 12/8/2008: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walkstation/workstation/deskstation posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]


[unless you are some sort of treadmill historian or Crockett-stalker, skip to the latest version, here: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/03/exercise-plan-active-lifestyle-for.html] ########################################

There has been consistent progress, but also minor setbacks, in the ongoing quest for the ultimate treadmill computing platform. As I type/ride treadmill, I am forced to use my 2nd tier backup throw-away laptop, which doubles as the doggy pillow-cam server.

Yes, pour out a little liquor for my HTC Athena Advantage x7501 battery, and maybe the ROM, too. After much tinkering, this last ROM flash left it unresponsive, and possibly kaput, el-bricko, gebricked. There is a replacement battery en route, so we're hoping for the best.

Although the loss of expensive hardware drives me nuts, after a little thought, I am able to view my destructive testing and experimentation as a positive sign of the aquisition of new capability. (Don't EVEN ask my wife how many Win3.1 machines I killed on my way to mastering 95 :).) This bodes well for the inclusion of WM6 on the CD LLC capabilities list (will work for replacement hardware).

More good news: the Gyrate wireless compact keyboard and air-mouse are sheduled for arrival today, so the problem of the laptop HDD shielding blocking treadmill wireless heartrate monitor will be shortly eliminated.

And that's just a recently discovered problem that happens to be solved by the wireless peripherals set. The original and primary benefit is to separate input from display, which greatly increases the set of possible solutions, because the processing and storage don't have to be compact anymore. Plus, the display doesn't have to be tiny and in-my-face. Instead it can be giant and on-the-wall.

Summary:
1) Goodbye, Athena.
2) Hello wireless peripherals
3) Seeking: thin (not too thin) client

TiVo: i'm impressed

I emailed TiVo yesterday (a Sunday) at 4:30 PM, and I received a voicemail with solution only 50 minutes later!

Hooray convergence... Hooray TiVo!

Sunday, November 04, 2007

webcam: back by popular demand

webcam is back (original post here), mainly so princess buttercup can keep in touch with her fans. This is her pillow, where she spends most mornings watching me check emails:


I figure the live feed is also good for family. I think my mom has figured out that if my animals are OK, it is most likely that her son is, too.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

pocket power... turn your handheld/pda/wm6 phone into a wifi access point

Check this out. No more USB cable needed between my HTC phone and laptop computer.

"EDGE/3G/HSDPA for everybody.... THE PEOPLE DEMAND SHARED GPRS!!!"

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=341398

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

carving people and pumpkins

Direct quote from my wife, DOCTOR Marki-Dunn,

"Pumpkins are harder to carve than people."


"Glad I'm not a pumpkin," was my reply... naturally.


As it turns out, harder, in this case, refers not to difficulty, but to solidity, as in, the opposite of soft.

Monday, October 29, 2007

crockett's quest for the ultimate treadmill computing platform, or, treadmill workstation, alpha

[Note, 12/8/08: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walkstation/workstation posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]


[unless you are some sort of treadmill historian or Crockett-stalker, skip to the latest version, here: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/03/exercise-plan-active-lifestyle-for.html] ########################################


for crying out loud, all I want is to be able to either listen to music, watch tv/dvr, or read & respond to emails while I'm on the treadmill. HURRY UP, convergence!

I've narrowed down the problem definition as follows: for me it is important to have either a rugged- no, "indestructible," mobile/tablet/phone-type device, or a separation of the HID device from the computer "body" and display. In other words, I don't want to sweat all over a laptop/tablet or tangle myself up in cables and dump everything, including myself, onto the floor.

(1) Experience with HTC Wizard:
I have been able to do some treadmill emailing with the HTC Wizard (branded Cingular 8125), but it was tough with the tiny display. So with high hopes, I tried the super-awesome HTC Advantage x7501 for its larger display, and what I had hoped would be an improved, larger keyboard.

(2) Experience with HTC Advantage:
This was a big disappointment, because I find it actually more difficult to type on the new, re-arranged keyboard, even though it's larger. The layout is different enough to confuse me (where's the D#*$! underscore???). Unlike the solid HTC Wizard, the Advantage is too big to comfortably balance in my hands while walking. I don't want the magnetic display to drop off. I'd be happier if it were a convertible tablet with flexible tilt. The rigidness, (one angle) leaves me wanting to tilt it forward.

And it's too small to use like a real keyboard on a flat surface. The keys are way too responsive, so I'm constantly cleaning up after my typos. Conclusions about HTC Advantage: unless I purchase a blue-tooth keyboard (something I can either hold like a PSP for thumbing or type flat on with keys large enough not too miss), this device is not my ultimate treadmill computing platform.

The HTC Advantage x7501 requires stability for typing, which would require me to be hunched over with my hands on the treadmill book tray the whole time. I preferred the feel of the HTC Wizard for typing, because I could hold it in the air while thumb-typing, although the display was way too small for any real productivity.

This leads me to the components of possible solutions:
Air mouse + mini-keyboard by Gyration. This, or the longer-range "pro" version, will almost certainly be part of the solution to my PC or terminal-based treadmill computing/music platform. It would be even better if I could run TiVo on my PC rather than having to buy the separate, dedicated "television" platform.

Cool thing about this long-range, RF wireless mouse. Not only is it great for use as a presentation style "pointer," and not only does it come with really cool media control software, but also it operates on a frequency that can be repeated by my old-school Terk leapfrog A/V/IR transceivers. Correction: I'm not sure if it's repeating the radio frequency, or if the 2.4GHz are simply reaching the computer upstairs. There is a point here, though. Possible solution:
(3) super thin client, also known as the "television." Display only with all computing done remotely. A variation of this is
(4) a sort-of thin client- windows mobile device or old, "throw-away" laptop. using RPD to access the machine with the really computing power. If you demand high graphics performance, this is not the solution for you. But if you want cheap, quick access to your data, it's ok.


More later...

Friday, October 19, 2007

old powers v. new competitors

I was just speaking one of my attorney clients, Mr. Goodrich @ Goodrich Law part of Red Mountain Law), and I find myself repeatedly impressed with this business's acceptance and embracing of progress- the inevitable necessity of competing with Legal Zoom and whatever other new competition is to come.

I was so inspired by this and other new competitors, that I wrote the following:

If you're curious about why I'm so interested in your foresight, here's the deal: this falls into a larger pattern I see of "old powers" either embracing or denying change and progress. It's really about protectionism vs. progress.

Old powers include traditional cable TV providers and TV advertisers, traditional telephone carriers, record labels (controlling distribution), Microsoft, and of course the lawyers. New competitors include TiVO, downloadable video services like YouTube, VOIP (Vonage/MyPeople), downloadable mp3 music / streaming music services (Pandora), open source alternatives to Microsoft products (SongBird, FireFox), and online document services (Legal Zoom).

What I have observed is that all of the aforementioned "old powers" go through a process of denial, and then either lobbying the government for "protection" (I'd be interested to see what challenges Legal Zoom has faced) or throwing up anti-competitive barriers to competition, then finally wising up and struggling to copy/catch up with the new competitors, or perhaps perishing.

What the old powers have forgotten is that before they became so comfortable in their success, the way they got to be "old power" was by offering something innovative and great that was better than everything else out there. In the comfort of success, a strange psychological phenomenon occurs, where a sense of entitlement and self congratulation is cultivated.

A wise man summed it up like this: Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

It's Arrived! It HAS ARRIVED!!!

The climax of the Frankenstein Monster Movie spoken with bad R/L pronunciation?

No, it's my super new toy, the HTC - Advantage X7501 - Unlocked GSM Smartphone complete with Windows Mobile 6, Mobile Office, Windows Live, WiFi/BlueTooth/EDGE/GPRS, onboard GPS, and matter transport (time travel only available in HTC x7500 model).

BUT FIRST...
I must take care of my client (Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance) before I indulge and explore.

Images will be despeckled and added to, and product will be reviewed, at a later date.





HTC's kung fu is the best.

Monday, October 15, 2007

PAY ATTENTION

Other industries, take lesson (Ian speaks truth):
http://www.fistfulayen.com/blog/?p=127

That's right-on: Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

impromptu dog party

it wasn't what i had planned for the afternoon, but when i noticed a dog racing off-leash through the neighborhood, i decided to investigate. and that is how i discovered that our friendly neighborhood dogs rocky and lucky had somehow escaped from their normal fenced in hang-out. after a some chasing, coercion, and negotiation, i got rock and luck by the collars and dragged them into my backyard for temporary safekeeping until owners could be contacted.





and thus began the impromptu dog party. at its peak, rocky and lucky got inside and chased mo up the window screen which fell down as mo clung to it, both falling backwards on the floor. the dogs loved it. not sure how mo felt about it.














for the remainder of the afternoon, i worked from my laptop downstairs or outside, whilst mo and leroy taunted dogs through the window.



good times!

Monday, October 08, 2007

truths

There are truths that transcend the reach of our current tools of language. And this is why we have music.

Friday, October 05, 2007

life quality enhancement: tnt rom for cingular 8125 a.k.a.htc wizard

i'm not saying I unlocked my cingular 8125 (a.k.a. HTC wizard) and installed the TNT pack (no one should do this seriously, unless you have a throw-away phone), because i'm not sure if that would be a breach of my carrier contract or not. i will say that if i were to install a cooked-up rom on my phone, i would only install apps that i've already licensed on this phone, and i would also add that i'm not interested in theft. sometimes the hacker/developer community gets it right sooner than microsoft, att, and htc. that's all.

so continuing this hypothetical case, i would also say that this has finally resolved the problem with the crappy, unresponsive text auto-complete and windows mobile/ms voice command crashes that have plagued my device. plus now the wi-fi works. and i can probably even make voip calls and go data-only without paying for any more "voice" minutes (gotta check the contract first, though).

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

befuddled by packaging

Man oh man- I thought we'd gotten past this. Remember $16 audio CDs and those giant tall cardboard packages- I think it was for anti-theft purposes? Well I just grabbed a copy of MS Office Ultimate 2007 from Office Max, and the new packaging has me stumped. There is a sticker over something that looks like two hinges, plus a red pull-tab on the top that reminds me of an ink cartridge pack. I'm beginning to think store personnel were supposed to remove this anti-theft stuff before I left the store, and if I do it myself I fear an ink bomb exploding on me!

[several stressful minutes later]

I am happy to report that I have proclaimed victory of Microsoft's new packaging, and gained access to the fruits of my Office Max visit.

Happy will be the day when I no longer have to do my own [re]installs.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Linksys, must you insult my intelligence?

[summary:
Linksys says, "yeah, OK the USB storage link doesn't work with your size hard drive, and you are correct, there is no documentation indicating this system requirement.... but it's not our fault you bought that hard drive."]

My Linksys WRT350N Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link does not recognize my large, Western Digital 1 TB MyBook Premium External Hard Drive 1394A/USB 2.0.

After some research (check out the angry review that starts, "Do not buy a Linksys WRT350N! ..." and ends, "Save yourself a lot of money and even more valuable time and don't believe what this company is telling you about this product. It is a lie.,") it became clear that there is a known issue (known by network users with common sense and troubleshooting skills) that Linksys is choosing not to acknowledge. That is what is really insulting. The lack of acknowledgment of any problem whatsoever. I have been postponing facing this issue for several weeks now, because I knew what I would be up against.

I've been around technology long enough to know that I will have to pay for a solution, whether it be payment in the form of telephone time on hold or the TECH SUPPORT GAUNTLET idiot dance (you may be familiar with the TECH SUPPORT GAUNTLET idiot dance if you have ever requested support for DSL, mobile phones, or laptops).

Here is what we accomplished in today's two 60+ minute session:

Joe Linksys: Hi, my name is Joe Linksys. How may I help you?
Crockett: Hi Munirih
Crockett: I have a wrt350N
Crockett: won't recognize 1TB USB HDD.
Joe Linksys: Hello, Crocket! Please continue.
Crockett: will recognize my little USB flash drive
Crockett: Firmware version 1.05.8beta didn't help
Crockett: Is there another firmware update?
Joe Linksys: Don't worry Crocket, I'll be assisting you with your concern.

Joe Linksys: Let me verify first this information. Your telephone number is 626-798-0323, right?

Crockett: right
Joe Linksys: I see. What's the size of your USB flash drive?
Crockett: I'm not reading it, but I believe it was something like .3GB according to the router's web interface... let me plug it back in & tell you exactly
Joe Linksys: Okay.
Crockett: "found new hardware... disk drive...."
Crockett: 30.9MB FAT
Joe Linksys: Alright. How about if you wire your 1TB hard drive to your computer, can it detect or access the HD?
Crockett: Yes.
Crockett: Would you like me to do that right now for verification?
Joe Linksys: Yes, please, but I believe it will no longer be read by the computer once it is formatted on the router.
Crockett: ok thanks for the warning. That's no problem, though. Give me 1min to run and get it and plug it in to the computer
Joe Linksys: Alright, take your time.
Crockett: OK, it's plugged in to my workstation's USB. give it a minute to recognize the hardware etc
Joe Linksys: No problem.
Crockett: OK now I have in "My Computer"...
Crockett: WD MyBook (F:)
Crockett: ah it's NTFS 465 GB- must be mirrored. I can re-format if you suggest it
Joe Linksys: If you reformat it, you will loose all your files in there.
Crockett: i understand. that is OK. I just want to be able to make the linksys function properly as a file server
Joe Linksys: Alright. You may reformat it so that we can properly isolate the problem.
Crockett: NTFS or FAT32?
Joe Linksys: You can use either one of those.
Crockett: looks like there is some kind of hardware RAID on this, because windows thinks it is a single device... let me look @ WD Raid Manager and make sure I eliminate any extra complicating

factors
Joe Linksys: Alright. You can take your time.
Crockett: reinstalling WD MyBook Raid Manager....
Joe Linksys: Alright.
Joe Linksys: How was it, Crocket?
Crockett: looks like WD Raid Manager is not going to cooperate, so we shall ignore this for now and let windows format the drive as it sees fit
Crockett: do you know- is it normal for winXP to ONLY allow NTFS formatting?
Joe Linksys: Crocket, are you still there?
Crockett: yes
Crockett: I performed a quick format, and now I have "wd mybook (F:), 465.75 GB NTFS."
Crockett: What next?
Joe Linksys: Okay. But our objective here is to make sure that the computer can read your 1TB USB HDD.
Joe Linksys: As far as I know, it should not be like that. It should allow FAT or NTFS.
Crockett: we can change that objective to making it read my 465.75 GB HDD. I had forgotten it was mirrored, so I was off by 50% about the file size
Crockett: But the objective is to make the linksys wrt350N read the USB Western Digital MyBook HDD
Crockett: whether it's .5 or 1TB
Joe Linksys: You're right. After formatting your hard drive, try to create a folder in it to make sure that your computer can access the folder in the hard drive.
Crockett: ok, yes, that worked ("new folder" exists)
Joe Linksys: Good. Now it means that you computer can access your hard drive. This time, we'll connect it on the router.
Crockett: OK. 1 minute and I will go into the other room and plug the HDD into the router. Do you need me to be able to look at the router and tell you anything? It's in another room, so I will

plug in HDD and be right back.
Joe Linksys: After plugging the hard drive, just check the web interface of the router specifically the Storage tab and check in there if it is recognized.
Crockett: OK. Storage tab says, "Disk Detail There are currently no available disks." and, "Erase Disk No disks are currently defined"

Joe Linksys: This is weird. It should be able to read it. Can you please hold on for 3 to 4 minutes? I'll just try to verify this case to my superior and check for other possible work around.
Crockett: certainly. Thanks for helping. I will be standing by...
Joe Linksys: Thank you. I'll be back soon.
Joe Linksys: Thank you for waiting, Crockett.
Crockett: no problem take your time. i'm multi-tasking
Joe Linksys: I have verified this case and I was informed that it is normal for the router not to detect the 465.75 GB HDD. This is because the hard drive was mirrored and was in RAID. The WRT350N

can only support hard drives that are not in RAID or mirrored. We only have 1 device that supports hard drive that are in RAID or mirrored form.
Crockett: hmmmm.... can you hang on while I reformat without raid?
Joe Linksys: Sure, I can and just for an additional information, the router has not yet been fully tested to handled a hard drive that is in TB size.
Crockett: is there any "use at your own risk" firmware that I can try to better support 1TB?
Joe Linksys: As of now, the 1.05.8 beta is the latest firmware for the WRT350N.
Crockett: it sounds like the router doesn't do what the advertisement said.
Joe Linksys: I apologize if the product has fallen short on the level of your expectation, Crocket.
Crockett: i appreciate the apology but can you put me in touch with someone that can help? "Sorry the product does not function as advertised" does not solve my problem or give me my money back.
Crockett: I would like to know if there are plans for a firmware update, otherwise can I trade this for a non-storage-link router?
Joe Linksys: I understand your situation, Crockett. We at technical support are not yet informed by the proper department if there will be a firmware upgrade for the router. Our options left here

is to reformat the hard drive without RAID.
Crockett: this is what I'm doing right now.
Crockett: Now we have "New Volume (F:) 931.51 GB NTFS."
Joe Linksys: Alright. We can't really say that the product is faulty because it was able to read your USB flash drive. It's just that it's a product limitation that the router can't read or detect

HD that is in RAID or in TB size.
Crockett: Where was that information disclosed in the documentation?
Joe Linksys: There's no documentation that says that the router has that kind of product limitation.
Crockett: Can you put me in touch with someone who can help me?
Joe Linksys: Crockett, I am already a second level technician. Next to me is my team captain. I have gathered the information that I told you from her about the product limitation of the device.
Crockett: excellent, thank you.
Crockett: Do you think it is fair that I should be able to trade this router for a non-storage-link version, since it is unusable with my hard drives? Or can you tell me of plans and ETA for

upgraded firmware so I may use it with my HDD?
Joe Linksys: The only way for us to have the router read the hard drive is to reformat it without RAID. If after reformatting it, it still can't be detected on the router, then we could say that

it's because of the size of the hard drive.
Crockett: OK, then let's do that. Now we have "New Volume (F:) 931.51 GB NTFS." Shall I do a read/write test on the workstation before plugging in to the router?
Joe Linksys: Yes, please.
Crockett: OK, I created a "New Folder" as before
Crockett: What next?
Joe Linksys: Now, please connect the hard drive to the router.
Crockett: ok. standby...
Joe Linksys: Alright. Please check again if it will be detected on the router. If it's not, we can try doing a power cycle on the router and the hard drive.
Crockett: ok but didn't you already tell me it is known that this product won't work with 1TB drives?
Joe Linksys: Right, bur there is a possibility that it will read the hard drive. It is a may or may not work setup.
Crockett: OK in the web interface, I see, "Disk Detail There are currently no available disks." and, "Erase Disk
No disks are currently defined."
Crockett: How should I cycle the power? just unplug and re-insert power cables?
Joe Linksys: To do a power cycle, first, you unplug the power adapter of the router. Unplug the hard drive. After 5 minutes, plug ibn the router again and connect the hard drive.
Crockett: ok, I will be back in 5 minutes...
Joe Linksys: Wait, aren't we going to get disconnected?
Crockett: touche
Joe Linksys: What do you mean?
Crockett: a joke b/c i was embarassed that I didn't anticipate the obvious disconnection that would occur.
Crockett: OK, so what shall I do for testing and following-up with you?
Joe Linksys: Just power cycle the router and the hard drive and tell me if the hard drive was detected. When we get disconnected, you can relogin. You can ask the receiving agent if it's possible

for him to transfer you to me. If I'm not available, just check your email for a reference number. Give that reference to the next agent so they can pull out our chat session. If you don't have a

reference number, just give you email address so you don't have to start over with the receiving agent.

Crockett: OK. Thank you for your time and patience.
Joe Linksys: You're welcome, Crockett. I'm glad to be at your service. Do you have any other concerns that I can help you with?

Crockett: YES. What can I do to rapidly escalate this issue so that I may minimize the amount of time required for us to reach a resolution?
Joe Linksys: When you relogin, you will be automatically sent to a second level technician. Just ask the technician to pull out our previous chat so that you don't have to start over.
Crockett: OK thanks.
Joe Linksys: You're welcome. Be sure to visit our Knowledge Base located at http://www.linksys.com/support and click on Ask Linksys. The site contains troubleshooting tips, how-to instructions, as

well as solutions to common issues relating to all Linksys products.

Joe Linksys: Thank you for giving us an opportunity to serve you through Live Chat Support. For your records, you may copy and paste this chat session to your Word document. Feel free to contact

us if you require further assistance. Once again, my name is Munirih with badge ID 19002. Please don't forget to close the window properly so we can assist other clients. Thank you for choosing

Linksys and have a great day!



Boys and girls, can you guess what happened after I reconnected the router and plugged in the non-mirrored 1TB HDD? Yes of course it still doesn't work just like everyone knows.

To be continued....

Friday, September 28, 2007

storms a brewin'

that's right, I feel a storm coming in from the horizon.

The horizon=my subconscious, and the storm, in this case, is a rant about the selective enforcement of competition laws, government-condoned mono/duopolies, and how this is hurting America by strangling the innovators and protecting the mediocre status quo.

I suggest an alliance of leading innovators in the VOIP, DVR, and (of course) OS industries.

The government should only involve itself in the infrastructure, which is already here, and maybe in the assignment of some sort of open ID.

Coming soon.

monk-beaters & journalist-killers

Who in hell beats monks and murders journalists?!? Apparently the military government of Myanmar a.k.a. Burma.

(unchecked power + military technology) * fear = evil

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

penis make shadow like tree

One of the simple pleasures my internet job affords me is the amusement of seeing all of the verbal combinations spammers assemble in their attempts to thwart the spam-blockers. I have a new favorite.

It helps if you read the words in caveman voice, broken english, or even frankenstein monster for a twist. Try to imagine you are the indigenous tribal medicine man bestowing your wisdom upon the "more advanced" civilization which has long lost these ancient secrets.

OK here it is, my new favorite junk email subject:

"your penis will make shadow like tree."

Thanks for reading, Kimosabe.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

worth watching

nice to see some talking before we jump to fighting:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14547.htm

Wow this guy is quite a politician. Talk about playing both sides!
"Death to America,' or, "Today is the era of thoughts, dialogue, and cultural exchanges."

tippity tappity tap tap dance!

I don't know if I should be encouraged by this amicability, or utterly terrified, because this reminds me of the peace talks of November 1941 with Japan before they hit us at Pearl Harbor.

Friday, September 21, 2007

WHY is there no USB in my car???

USB = ubiquitous, no? That's why rechargeable USB devices don't always ship with separate power cables. The power through the USB cable is sufficient for recharging.

But there is no USB port in my car! Not only that, we've been teased for years by false promises of in-car technology and computing. Remember the Clarion Auto-PC, or the Empeg player?

Alas, would you like to know the *real* reason I am writing this? It is to kill time while my Pharos GPS Bluetooth transceiver is plugged into my TiVO's USB port as a power source for recharging. There, that ought to be enough juice for now.

Over and out.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Strategic Abstinence

from, Reuters:

VIENNA (Reuters) - Arab and other Islamic nations, targeting Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal, pushed through a U.N. atomic watchdog resolution on Thursday calling on all Middle East nations to renounce atomic weapons.

The unusual vote was 53-2 but with 47 abstentions by Western and developing states, highlighting reservations that the move politicized the International Atomic Energy Agency's work.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Friday, September 14, 2007

Settling into Salinas

Get ready, Salinas, because Crockett is here and with him comes connectivity!




I'm sufficiently settled to have posted some new pics of the new home/office/neighborhood on Flickr.












There are still a few cardboard boxes around the house to be unpacked, but we are more or less moved in.

I'm loving how peaceful it is out here, but I miss my peeps down in LA, too.


















Let's see... It's beautiful here. The cows seem very interested in me. Traffic congestion and commuting will soon be a distant memory.

You know that song, "Girls on film?" You can sing, "cows on hills" to the same tune.


More later.

thanks! and WOW!

In response to all of your feedback for my new business logo, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude. I will borrow the words of one of my favorite rockers, who closes most shows with a simple:

"Thank you we LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!"

And also a "WOW" because I had no idea my peers and the LinkedIn community would be so prompt and generous with free opinions.

As a systems guy, it can be difficult to get out of the abstract logic world and back out into the external visual world, so this has been huge.

thanks again. I carefully read and truly value each and every comment. Now I shall feed them all into my designers' brains and see where it steers us!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

crockett needs a logo

PLEASE HELP ME SELECT A BUSINESS LOGO!!!

This has been postponed to the point my designer is ready to fire me. It's always easier to work on YOUR business, as opposed to this, which hits really close to home:

Vote here http://www.crockettdunn.com/

FINALLY, all the power of a nuclear warhead, but without those pesky side effects!

How many times have you said to yourself, "I want to cause mass destruction and carnage, but I've had it with those yucky, radiation-related side-effects?"

Well, you're prayers have been answered:

The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shockwave and an
incredibly high temperature," the reports said. "All that is alive merely
evaporates."
Rukshin said: "At the same time, I want to stress that the
action of this weapon does not contaminate the environment, in contrast to a
nuclear one.

From Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1155952320070912?pageNumber=2

Pick a punchline, or write your own:

  1. FINALLY, an environmentally friendly way to blow shit up!
  2. All the carnage... without the guilt!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

outrage and alarm

If you are a supporter of civilian oversight of the armed forces, nuclear non-proliferation, and the survival of life & technological civilization in general, then you should be outraged and alarmed about this: A B-52 armed with six nuclear warheads flew around a little bit last week.

Oops. I wonder if the rest of the world noticed. I wonder how close former Soviet countries came to a pre-emptive strike. You should wonder about these things, too.

Interested? I encourage you to read War Scare, by Peter Vincent Pry.

It is my understanding that nuclear weapons are usually transported by military cargo planes.

Good news is that the warheads were supposedly on their way to being decommissioned.

For the love of god, people, let's not destroy ourselves.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

goodbye pasadena, or "peace I'm out"

Man, there is nothing left in our house- I mean, "our old house," except for echoes and dust bunnies, so it's time for me to hit the road and head up to Salinas.

Old Neighborhood:

Goodbye Los Angeles,


Goodbye Pasadena,


I will miss you, but I promise to visit and email often.

New neighborhood:

Oh Salinas.... you are so rural, you salad bowl of the nation you...

with your clean air, sunshine, and views


I look forward to more mellow than I'm used to.

Things in common between Salinas and Pasadena:
1) horse stables < 1 mile from home
2) gorgeous view of the mountains
3) current or former Crockett place of residence (1 or 0 Crocketts there)

Peace I'm outta here!

Monday, August 27, 2007

as featured on LinkedIn

Henceforth, I shall only respond when addressed as, "Crockett, as featured on LinkedIn."


It's not The Daily Show or Wired magazine, but I'll take it!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

celebrate war... good times!

Not!

Something has really been bugging me, but I haven't been able to compose a blog-worthy (although as I type this I realize my blogworthiness standards are low) analysis. A couple weeks after reading Slaughterhouse-Five, viewing The Fog of War, and immediately after watching the HBO documentary film, White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007), I am disturbed enough to share my unpolished thoughts.

It has often occurred to me that war is usually, if not always, NOT a smart move. Especially when one considers the human cost, the long-term cost (read: blowback) of the bad-will generated by the conflict, and the eventual resentment held by the defeated (how's that Afghanistan reconstruction going? And how are the losers of the United States Civil War faring in comparison to the winners?).

Seriously, starting an unnecessary war is just intellectually lazy. The action itself indicates that it has not been thoroughly considered. We understand this about nuclear war: No one wins, so no one starts global nuclear wars. Good for us.

I mean, the violence of warfare is about as glamorous as a multi-fatality motor vehicle accident. If high-tech civilization & society are a organisms, then war is our cancer. See what I'm saying?

OK- we all agree: war sucks. I think everyone who has seen first-hand death & violence knows that, right? Sure, military might is cool (awesome toys), but destroying lives is not. So why do we keep fighting throughout recorded history? Certainly powerful men are well versed in history. So am I naive? Or perhaps I lack a certain predatory gene or brain region?

Or am I the only sane one around here?

What if a nation took the unprecedented action of sending a ton of diplomats to live in a rogue state, rather than tons of destruction?

If we can all agree that generally humans want (1) to survive and (2) to not hurt, then why do we still fight wars? Well, someone has to start them, right? Who? Maybe the leaders who are also starters of war lean more towards the socio/psychopathic than true representation of the will of the population?

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Notable first: just received a txt from friend in church.

--
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Battleship Best Western, Mobile, AL

shout out from my room @ the Battleship Best Western, Mobile, AL.

Demetri Martin says, "Ladies....?"

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

@ age 31, poop still interesting

As an IT "systems guy," I respect the patient, methodical problem solving described in the article below.

Plus it's about poop, which still retains its childish appeal to me!

from Reuters
Chicken and rice ends thief's toilet trauma

Mon Aug 6, 2007 9:07AM EDT

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - Dozens of bananas failed to do the trick but an Indian thief has finally produced a gold necklace he had snatched and then swallowed after police fed him a hearty meal of chicken, rice and local bread.

Sheikh Mohsin, 35, grabbed the 45,000-rupee ($1,115) necklace from a woman in the eastern city of Kolkata Friday and popped it into his mouth when cornered by police.

Officers then fed him 40 bananas over a few hours believing they would act as a purgative, and sat back and waited for results.

Mohsin passed an uncomfortable night in jail, but not the piece of jewelry.

Police said Sunday he was then given more substantial fare.

"Now he wants to go free and doesn't want to even hear about bananas any more," senior officer Gyanwant Singh told Reuters.

A tired and rueful Mohsin was, however, staring at 3 years in jail if convicted, Singh added.

"Bananas were good enough for another thief who had swallowed an ornament a few months ago, but Mohsin was definitely a tough cookie," said one clearly impressed police constable.

Even the monitors crash now?!

I have this totally bad-ass, 21" Gateway HD Flat panel display.

Part of the awesomeness is the ability to switch from portrait to landscape physically by rotating the monitor. This gives added flexibility for those of us with multiple displays who spend lots of time at computer and desire frequent office configuration changes.

Here's the thing, though: it crashes sometimes. Yes, my monitor remains dark and its on-off button becomes unresponsive.

And I always fall for the trick of believing it's my OS. You see, the monitor that crashes is the primary display where I should see my login prompt when I wake up the computer. But I don't see my login prompt- just dark screen. So I think one of my remote RDP sessions is "stuck," or there is some other issue.

I usually try control-alt-delete, and login via another remote computer, before remembering that the solution is to cycle the power by unplugging the monitor (soft-switch button is unresponsive).

And the first time this occurred, I even began troubleshooting hardware, but realized what was going on as soon as I swapped the two monitors' vga plugs and saw the previously hidden login prompt on other monitor.

What is the meaning of this? Dunno. Either, "technology marches forward," or, "I'm becoming old and inflexible." I often suspect the latter when I try to relate to the millennial-generation developers I work with, like Yan).

cheers!

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome- errr, I mean Castaic


Every time I travel the desert from Los Angeles to Salinas via the 5 freeway, I feel like I'm in the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.


Friday, August 03, 2007

Jake Brown Update

From: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-xgames4aug04,1,6751349.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true

"...contusions of the liver and lung, stress fractures in his vertebrae and a small fracture on the top of one hand..."

"...expected to be released from California Hospital Medical Center Saturday or Sunday and make a full recovery...."

Jake Brown medical status? Hospital admission? Discharge?

This morning I wasn't able to find any reports of Jake Brown's injury status, after he survived the nastiest skateboard slam I've ever seen last night at the x-Games big air. We were watching this at the Staples Center, and it was really horrible. We thought this was a tragedy for sure.

Before making any more of a big deal about his walking off the ramp (after slamming so hard both shoes popped off, and reportedly lying unconscious, un-breathing, with his eyes open for several minutes), I'd like to know what type of recovery he is looking at, or if he is even still alive!

Anyone have any info? I gotta get back to work, but I'm very concerned about the guy, but hopeful to find out that he really is a-OK.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Joe Theismann, Clint Malarchuk, now Jake Brown's 50 foot fall

Analisa and I just returned from the Big Air finals of x-Games 13 @ Staples Center, and I gotta be honest, I'm still a little queasy-feeling. Jake Brown fell farther and harder than I've ever seen in the sport.

I mean we knew he was in trouble because he pushed way off the ramp and was flailing in the air heading down to the flat part of the half pipe (too far out to hit knees and slide), but he somehow rotated onto his back in the air... and when he hit, butt first then back & head slammed, you could feel the thud of the wood in your chest at the other side of the stadium. He hit so hard both shoes flew off to the other end of the ramp.

I felt sick instantly... all I thought was, "no." Either his life or career was certainly over.

By now Jake Brown has probably either been examined, (hopefully) cleared, and admitted to the hospital for observation, or is perhaps in surgery for internal injuries.

That's right, for some reason he's apparently neither dead nor paralyzed. He even walked off the ramp, upright! Thankfully they got him back down on a stretcher and continued examining him for neck and back injuries before transporting him (to the hospital, I presume).

OK, back home now, I just watched the replay on TiVO and you can hear Tony Hawk saying, "oh-no. oh-no..." as Brown flails in the air, way too far inside the ramp to slide down safely. But then as Brown gets closer to the ground, and it becomes evident that he has rotated onto his back and is about to slam deadly hard, Hawk's voice gets quieter, and higher-pitched: real fear enters, and he almost whimpers, "oh... god."

Then his voice is unsteady and the sentences are incomplete. Brown is lying on the ramp like a rag-doll, clearly unconscious as medics rush to him (each medics reaction is the same, hands go to head and mouth, just like Hawk's, "oh... no" and announcers are bumbling about hoping for the best, as we're all fearing the worst, saying things about "the risk is always there in this sport," and, "measured risk."

So I don't know about the X-Games anymore. I mean, I'd never thought about it like NASCAR, where someone might die. I knew we were getting to that point, especially with the Moto-X stuff. I dunno.

Jake Brown video: big air 720, crash Thursday Night X-Games 13- 1/2


Jake Brown video: big air 720, crash Thursday Night X-Games 13- 2/2

ESPN version of Jake Brown's slam + miraculous survival here: ESPN footage of Jake Brown bail http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=2959379&n8pe6c=2

Here they include some interviews with Jake, who doesn't recall the landing, and even asked, "did I try the 720?" after regaining consciousness. Apparently he was not breathing and his eyes were open immediately after impace : more details and Jake Brown's reaction here

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Lub-dub... Lub-dub...

Lub-dub is the phonetic representation of a 2 chamber heart beat, with all valves/equipment/etc. functioning properly, as taught to medical students.

I'm sitting here stretching before I begin my morning treadmill & email routine, and I noticed that I have a habit of mentally counting my stretching in groups of eight.

Why is that?

Two thoughts come to mind immediately:
1) I've heard that humans can comfortably remember about 7 digits (see: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell), which is why we have phone numbers in groups of 7.
2) It just *feels* better to end on an even number. Why should that be? Ideas:
a) The TWO CHAMBER HEART indoctrinates us with a familiarity to the two-step, lub-dub, even before birth
b) The human body's bilateral symmetry gives us two of lots of stuff.

So,
i. what would our culture, music, and lives in general be like if we had a THREE chambered heart, and
ii. What's with all the symmetry. I understand the benefits of redundancy/fault tolerance, but how did it happen in nature? I wonder if a math wiz could prove that it's the simplest solution.

Or is it the simplest solution, rather than dumb chance?

I'd like to hear Ray Kurzweil's thoughts on this, and also Robert Wright's, Malcolm Gladwell's... any of the authors from my reading list.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

umd

Why do they call it a Universal Media Disc when it is a proprietary, read-only format that only works in my PSP? grumble grumble...

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

kill you

Confucious said something like, "Good people order and arrange." Wise advice, considering we've only got one brain each.

Let's start with:

  • nuclear weapons, especially suitcase nuclear weapons (aren't a dozen or so unaccounted for?)
  • acid rain
  • carcinogens
  • disease (this and the above category can be expanded. Analisa can probably help_)
  • gang initiation killings
  • earthquakes
  • fire
  • flood
  • Snakes on a Plane (contributed by Steve Cowles)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

What happend to the Acid Rain??

What the heck ever have happen to acid rain? I mean, when I was a kid, I was as scared of acid rain as I was nuclear annihilation. The cold war was in full effect, and acid rain was all over the tv and news media.

As of late, I haven't heard anything about it in years. So what happened to Acid Rain? Was it part of someone's political platform? Or a scary-sounding label put on a not-so-scary threat to get people to watch more TV/advertisements?

Monday, July 16, 2007

"Speed limit enforced" by...

There are two common freeway signs with which I have a slight objection:
1) "Speed limit enforced by radar," and
2) "Speed [limit] enforced by aircraft."

en·force [en-fawrs, -fohrs] Pronunciation Key
–verb (used with object), -forced, -forc·ing.
1.to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
2.to obtain (payment, obedience, etc.) by force or compulsion.

When one considers the above definition, it can be realized that a more accurate sign might say,"Speed detected by radar. Adherence to maximum speed limit rules encouraged
by society, incentives from auto insurance companies, and noticed of penalties delivered by officers of law & enforced by courts."

To directly enforce a maximum speed without access to the gas & brake pedal is impossible, unless the radar is being used for some sort of mind control. As for the aircraft, short of a tractor beam or perhaps weaponry, a maximum speed rule cannot be directly enforced.

Happy to note that in Monterey County, the signs correctly read, "speed detected by radar." I'm proud to know that my soon-to-be home county is so enlightened.

Tahoe 2

view

Lake Tahoe

Well we're on the road again, returning from our place @ Lake Tahoe (more pics coming- I only know how to attach 1 via sms post). It's kind of nice & scenic to drive not fly, but mobile internet and offline accessiblity of web apps is not yet where I would like them to be.

Anyway, the residents here are all very grateful that their community did not burn, as am I.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

death space

Based on my belief (shared with Dalai Lama) that the way to enjoy life is to remain aware of its transience, I am subscribing to the RSS feed of MyDeathspace.com, http://www.mydeathspace.com/smf/index.php?board=23.0;sa=news;type=rss;action=.xml

 

Thanks, Drew, for that uplifting instant message.  You are now immortalized in my blog.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

restrained weiner

Ladies and gentlemen, behold:

The worlds largest hot-dog restraint system!


Hey seriously, do you know what that is? I will give you one hint: "It was rumored that Michael Jackson slept in one."

Give up?

This is a partially assembled hyperbaric chamber. My understanding is that it looks less terrifying once it is housed in the usual casing. Think of it as furniture that has not yet received its slip cover.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

[Jott from Crockett Dunn] Hello world, this is my first test of voice speech to text transcribed Nobel blo...

Jott From Crockett Dunn

Hello world, this is my first test of voice speech to text transcribed Nobel Mobile blog post via jott.com. Pretty awesome, I will revise this post for errors later.
Listen to Audio
Set reminders, assign, and manage this jott on Jott.com

Brought to you by Jott Networks, Inc.


[later]
As you may notice, the only error was "mobile" transcribed, "Nobel." No biggie, because I did some reading and discovered that you can spell-out difficult words. Very cool, especially if you're a commuter. Free voice-to-SMS and voice-to-email from Jott.com rules!

Sunday, July 08, 2007

i like sunshine and music

The list of things I feel this calmly certain about can probably be counted on my two hands and feet. This I know: "I like sunshine and music."

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Worlds best home available for sale or lease in Pasadena, California

[update 2008.12.02: SEEKING NEW TENANT.
Specs here: Specs here:
http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/08/home-for-rent-north-east-pasadena.html#specs
]

# # #

Did I mention we put our house on the market? In Pasadena, Los Angeles?

I may have forgotten to add that of all the homes for sale in Pasadena, this one is totally the best. And I'm not just saying that because I'd rather not pay two mortgages, either. I can say from the bottom of my heart, this is my favorite Pasadena house, only partially because it is mine.

Let me see if I can find some links and pictures.

Amenities:

Walking distance: Victory Park. A short drive or long walk away is the Alice Frost Kennedy Off-Leash Dog Park, which brings much joy to the world.

Concerned about having enough space for your younger, littler family members?
Worry not:


"But Crockett," you ask... "What about the sunshine? We need much sunshine!"
Well sunshine you shall have:


"But Crockett," you plead... "I can only ingest food if there is an awesome view of mountains and available." Ask and you shall receive:



And I'm not even kidding- we occasionally get visiting Peacocks that the natives tell me come from the Santa Anita Los Angeles Arboretum (which is just a short drive away). This one (below) seems to like fancy cars. Found it lounging on Analisa's BMW one day.

One of these fellas was kind enough to shed his feathers in our yard. Now our cats get to play with REAL peacock feathers. That is cat luxury.

Walking distance from Eaton Canyon Natural Area, from where one can hike to Eaton Falls or if you have a few hours, all the way up to Henniger Flats. If you're looking for a multi-day adventure, continue on all the way to Mount Wilson: