November 10, 2008
I’m in Portland for an Intel software conference this week. I’m speaking on Wednesday, but today and tomorrow I get to just soak it all up. I can’t share any details on what I’m presenting, but I will share the nice view I have from the hotel:
I also got to have dinner with Chris and Tonya tonight, and their baby Claire. Millie’s going to be so jealous when I teach Claire to say “Josh” first, but it hasn’t happened yet… 
When I got back to the hotel, I found an amusing sight in the hallway:
My cell phone didn’t capture this one too well, but what we have here is a bucket of empty Newcastles on the left, and a bucket of untouched chocolate milks on the right. Methinks someone had a good time…
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Travel | Tagged: beer, chocolate milk, conference, Newcastle, Portland, Willamette River | 
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Posted by Josh
November 5, 2008
These election results are as good a reason as any to break blog silence — congratulations to our President-elect, Barack Obama! And while I’m sad about California’s current results on Prop 8, overall I feel much more optimistic about our immediate future.
Obama is not the messiah, and he doesn’t have a magic wand to solve all of our problems, but he has inspired me and so many others in a way I’ve not experienced before. I hope to see great things in the next four years…
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General | Tagged: election, Obama | 
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Posted by Josh
May 11, 2008
This is a DLP color wheel:
This is a DLP color wheel on drugs:
And sadly, that’s a picture of mine. 
On the plus side, it was pretty easy for me to get to the part, so I’m going to order a new one and try the replacement myself. Professional TV repair costs way too much for my taste. Anyway, I would like to be more handy around the house, and starting with something I know (electronics) seems like a safe bet.
Update (5/19): Success! It wasn’t that much different than changing parts in my computer, which I’ve done for years, except this had the added stress of moving around delicate optics. Time to catch up on everything my DVR saved for me…
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Entertainment | Tagged: color wheel, dlp, tv repair | 
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Posted by Josh
December 10, 2007
Pardon the slight pun, but there’s now an end in sight for The Wheel of Time!
Tor announces that the final novel in bestselling Robert Jordan’s legendary Wheel of Time® fantasy series will be completed by author Brandon Sanderson
[...] Brandon Sanderson has signed on to complete A Memory of Light, with scheduled delivery of the manuscript in December 2008 and a planned publication date of Fall 2009.
Two years! I guess that’s not so bad. I’ve not read anything by Brandon Sanderson before, but maybe while I’m waiting for this one I’ll read some of his own books. I can’t imagine the pressure — Jordan’s fans will never forgive Sanderson if he screws this one up. At least he’s not starting from scratch though, as Jordan wrote a large part of the book before his passing and had notes on much of the rest. So here’s hoping for a proper closure to one of my favorite series…
No Comments » | Entertainment | Tagged: books, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time | Permalink
Posted by Josh
November 12, 2007
I’ve got a bit of a cold right now, and after working all weekend to meet a deadline, I’m pretty tired too. So, do you think I might pass on attending an advance screening of Battlestar Galactica: Razor? No frakkin’ way!
The movie-sized episode fills in more of the background of the Pegasus, and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s been a while since the last season finale, and this was perfect to whet my appetite. I’m sure I’ll watch it again when it airs on SCI FI; I’m just not sure whether it’s worth the standalone DVD investment. I do want to have it, but I already got hit when I bought the miniseries and then found that it was also included in the season one set. I have a feeling that they’ll do the same with Razor and season four. Of course, maybe Santa will be nice and I won’t have to worry about it…
Anyway, here’s hoping that the writer’s strike is resolved soon, so I can look forward to season four without interruption…
No Comments » | Entertainment | Tagged: battlestar galactica, razor, sci-fi, tv | Permalink
Posted by Josh
November 5, 2007
I finally watched An Inconvenient Truth this weekend, and it was definitely eye-opening. I was annoyed a little by Gore tooting his own horn — the election scandal was especially off-topic — but the message is still powerful. While I generally understood and believed already that global warming is an issue, I didn’t know the raw scale of it. So now that I’ve received the warning, I’ll start watching for ways that my own habits can be improved, and I encourage others to do the same.
On another side of humans deteriorating our own condition, we have Musharraf declaring emergency rule in Pakistan. I remember seeing him as a guest on The Daily Show, and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He has the charisma that makes for a powerful leader, which makes his current actions even more frightening. People will genuinely believe in him and his justifications for extreme actions, much more than the puppet show that our own administration puts on. I hope for Pakistanis that this can be resolved peacefully, but it’s hard to see how when he has already defied diplomatic efforts.
It’s funny — I’m still one of many young adults who get their primary news from Comedy Central, but I’m developing an interest in politics and world affairs that used to bore me. Maybe this is just part of getting older…
1 Comment | General | Tagged: global warming, international, politics, world | Permalink
Posted by Josh
October 25, 2007
I liked the result that this quiz gave:
What Kind of Reader Are You?
Your Result: Dedicated Reader
You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
There’s a question of how many books are on your to-read list, which I can actually look up with a simple tag. Thanks to LibraryThing for feeding my slightly obsessive behavior, so I can catalog all of my books and act like a normal person the rest of the time.
No Comments » | Entertainment | Tagged: books, quiz, reading | Permalink
Posted by Josh
July 10, 2007
I love xkcd for the funny-because-it’s-true look at the way some people think. He might just be the nerdy-webcomic equivalent of Jeff Foxworthy.
I thought of my own quip the other day along those lines. I won’t attempt to make it into a comic — not even with stick figures — but here’s the gist of it:
When you’re out with your friends (say N people in the group) and someone proposes a toast, do you ever watch to see if there are N*(N-1)/2 unique glass clinks?
Ok, I’ve never actually counted as it happens, but I have wondered before…
1 Comment | General | Permalink
Posted by Josh
