Monday Night Baseball - Lester's no hitter

My first time in Fenway this year, and Lester has a great first complete game. Pitched a no-hitter, amazing to see! In the middle of a Celtics playoff run, some more good times for Boston sports! I had a blast :) Thanks for the great seats Jason!

From playlist to podcast: mix-tapes for your friends over the web

I wanted to see how simple it was to create a podcast last night, and after doing some quick searching on the subject found it was quite easy to do. Basically once you have mp3 tracks available on a webserver, you just need to whip up a quick RSS/XML file that describes the name of the file, where it is, and how big it is... You can also add pictures/text descriptions and date-timestamps for your podcast.

What does this mean to you? I can give you a digital-webified mix tape, in the form of a web address url, you fire up Itunes, Subscribe to my podcast with that url, and within minutes you have the audio that I want to share with you. Everytime its updated, you get more new material. Next time you use your ipod/itunes, you'll have a mix from me to listen to! Interested? I'll come up with a tutorial on how easy it is soon, for now -- just ask me.

Cold and windy sunset

Feet on sand!

The following night I got out a bit earlier, and it was a bit less windy!


Still not summer yet though, at least the beach was mine.

using my MBTI(INTJ) to lead and manage successful teams

Just getting back from a few day course, leading and managing successful teams. The basic ideas of the course was to use Myers Briggs Type Indicators to assess your own type and style, and understand how to adapt your own leadership style to others within your team. A foundation for team synergy was built, where depending on the nature of the project-- different types within a group may be best suited to handle certain aspects of the project and can complement each others natural working styles.

Some points of interest when trying to understand INTJ's (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging) that really struck a chord with me.

-Strong vision for the organization, and loyal to the organization
-Thinking about issues of the future, understanding trends
-Hungry for problems to solve, sometimes will take on others problems, it is painful for us to see a problem and not be able to do anything about it.
-Open to any and all ideas that can be put to use
-Change and improve upon anything
-Like small teams, with significant contributions from each member
-Hate redundancy, seek efficiency
-Procedures tend to be followed if they are efficient or their value is explained
-Prefer precise communication
-Like to bring theories into actualities

If you know me through work, I think this aligns very well with what I tend to do for the companies which I have worked for. If you know me personally, some of these traits also come through. Some of my prior blog posts also tend to highlight some of these characteristics. It is good to be able to understand your own type well first, and that gives perspective as to others which may have different types/styles and how you may need to adjust to meet their needs.

no more pathfinder wobble

After doing some research of the wobble behavior,

The rear lower and upper links have rubber bushings that wear out. I picked up some poly bushings from 4x4parts.com

The challenging part has been getting the old bolts off, I've been spraying, torching, cutting, grinding the bolts off and its been a lot more work and hours than I had hoped...

Poem for Grandpa

Grandpa

My Grandpa was a gentle soul
With eyes, the clearest blue
A Father, Brother, Friend and Mate
His devotion, ever true

He had a happy disposition
And kindness in his voice
A real New England sports fan
The Red-Sox were his choice

His strength and fearless courage
Held steady through the war
Little did he know back then
What life would have in store

Memories of the ocean
Three daughters by his side
Swimming in the sunshine
And dancing with the bride

He loved to be a “Grandpa”
He was proud of all he had
A crowded room of family
Would always make him glad

Seasons come and seasons go
The winter’s sometimes long
The “Red Sox” kept their promise
And Grandpa still was strong

For years, he was a fighter
He wanted much to stay
He held the hands of those he loved
With pride, he paved the way

His spirit stays within us
Though his time on earth is done
It’s opening day in Heaven
The season’s just begun



We love you Grandpa. We miss you.

Amy Kelly 3/5/08

Memorial Slideshow by Tim Dowd

amante igloo

Well after hearing that bad news about Grandpa, I had to get out of the house and do something constructive but creative... After all, Gramps was an engineer too... Stepping on the snow in the backyard, gave me the idea to carve out blocks and build an igloo in true eskimo style(or at least try to)... Traditionally as a kid, I would tend to make more snow caves -- sort of a miners approach which yielded a less structurally stable fort digging into the side of a giant snowpile. It got tricky towards the top to build an arched dome roof -- especially as it approached the 8ft tall mark.



It was a lot of work, but my sister Kathleen helped me out and it turned out pretty good!

Wachusett

Night ridin during a storm!

Each run got better, each lift line got shorter. Roco!

It has been a pretty good winter so far, looks like another few storms are on their way to make for another great weekend up north!

New blue line train

First ride this morning... From the first ride, it looks like an updated version of the older blue-line. About the same seating and layout as the 30 year old ones.. The seats instead of being plether are just hard plastic. They have installed many handles so that shorter folks can reach the upper bars when standing up for the ride. There is now the 'digital' next stop and automated announcements, good for the occasional rider but the daily rider knows the next 3 stops already. The windows are smaller, but I'm guessing they don't leak which is key. I'll be riding both until the older ones are phased out, so I'll pick up on some more minor details soon.

wifi & wireless internet on trains

Part of my decision to buy a place in Gloucester steps from the commuter rail, was the fact that I knew in a short amount of time internet connectivity on trains would quickly be a reality. If you can spend your time commuting, working, guess what that means? You can get more accomplished in a day, or your work-day is shorter -- I'll take either. More often I use the time to catch up on email, news, and collect my thoughts.

For a while(last five years for me), internet access on the train was reserved for business people who either had a company sponsored cell-network card, or could afford to blow 60$ a month on the data plan -- or tech saavy guys like myself that tether their cellphone and use it as a modem (no cable, Bluetooth of course) without paying a hefty premium (I use my cellphones basic data plan, 6$ per month).

Now it looks like the MBTA is trying a pilot out, and from the looks of this graph of coverage on my line, I'd say pretty promising for the future --

self sustainability

Recently, I've been baking my own bread and starting to enjoy the indoor winter garden. While not the best use of my time and talents, I find it a nice break from the computer screen... Something about putting bread on the table, making it with just some flour+yeast... a few hours later, you have warm fresh baked bread. Ever played Oregon trail? The best part of that early video-game? The hunt... Your stick figure would shoot a pixel across the screen and if you were lucky landed a large buffalo and fed your family for a week... The Aerogarden has been brain-dead simple to use, requiring human intervention basically every two weeks... Fresh Basil looks to be soon ready for the taking, mint, parsley, chives, cilantro & dill not too far behind....



Grow, or make a simple food you take for granted sometime... For some reason, it just tastes better eating the fruits of your labor. Bread + Salad!

YouTube on Sony Ericssons's k790a

Today YouTube announced a mobile version of YouTube which appears to be a Java midlet that works with Sony Ericssons's K800. I'm surprised they didn't officially throw k790a into the mix as well, as the phones are very closely related.

m.youtube.com/app

It looks like the unsigned Nokia version will work with the K790a: k790a YouTube App


The signed version should work for Nokia's (N73, N95, E65, 6110, 6120 officially): Nokia's YouTube App


I posted on the Esato board as I was trying to figure this out. Let me know if you find anything else about this topic --

Vote for 'Change'?

The next president of the US, won't be able to 'change' much...

He/She won't be able to lay a solid foundation for economic prosperity. Won't be able to make the world a peaceful place. Won't be able to guarantee you a job, your health, your home. Won't be able to reduce global warming, eradicate disease, feed the hungry.

These important action items actually fall on your hands. Choose ones closest to your heart, and work with others to focus on the problems that you care about the most.

If the next president can make it safer for us to travel to other countries, cooperate and do business with other nations in peace, they will most likely get my vote.

I'm interested in hearing about your top candidate, and why, please write to me....

Rice for the poor this holiday season

I came across this website/vocab game called FreeRice.com. The concept is pretty neat. You play an online game, get subjected to some advertisements, but instead of someone making money off of you, they buy rice with the profits.

So you get to increase your english vocabulary, and help feed the world... Seems like a better concept than most online games these days... I wonder if anyone is starting to play this on their Nintendo WII's web browsers? Sony Playstation 3's are already starting to work on curing diseases when they are not being used.....

See mom? not all games are about blowing things up....

Enough fun and games, lets get down to business.

I previously briefly wrote about the OpenSocial platform which is still in it's infancy, and while some developers have been hesitant to jump onto this bandwagon, here comes a whole herd of developers and business minds alike.

LinkedIn is taking it to the next level, allowing applications to be driven and directly tapped into folks business/professional networks. Initially, only Google's own Orkut allowed applications to be developed. Within the US, this didn't mean much as Orkut is not one of the current top social networks by any stretch. I expect LinkedIn's wave to be much larger, and hit home with a lot of the tech/business minds... So, with your network of professional contacts, how would you like to tap into the power of that network to provide more value?

Location Based Services

Here we are on earth: we live, work, travel where we choose. You are right here, right now, and maybe at this moment you need something or someone to help you accomplish what you are trying to do. You rub your magic lamp, out pops a genie, and grants you your wish.

Your lamp: it is actually your cellphone or computer...
Your genie: most likely works for Google, but possibly Yahoo, Microsoft? Altavista?? AskJeeves???
Your wish: if you are lucky is the top result of your search query....

Location Based Services, is a concept of providing you with relevant information based on where you currently are. Google recently released a beta update to their mobile Google Maps application which triangulates your approximate location using cell-phone tower information. Based on that information, you can easily imagine where they could be heading with this... Looking for the closest gas station? T-stop? Pizza shop? Done. Take it one more level further, the closest/cheapest gas-station, the train station with an incoming train any minute, the best slice of pizza around... This is where we are heading, and we will get there quicker than you can imagine...

The problems won't be technical, but more security and ethical in nature....

open social, developers love reusability.

Not so long ago, Facebook released a public API and developers went crazy, marketers drooled, anyone with any interest in reaching the youth demographic started to rethink about how they can bring their products through this channel. A new type of web application was now available, a plugin to your existing Facebook account.
The problem?
Facebook controls the language, their own proprietary/new syntax FBML, they tended to break deployed code with their security/feature improvements, they control which applications users can browse and see/add. Worst of all, your 'Facebook applications' code could not be re-used easily.

Open social, Google and the rest of the gang answer... Trys to learn from some of Facebooks lessons.. and of course, one up them whenvever possible. Its still a plugin model, but if you know HTML/Javascript, you know how it works out of the box. You want to deploy the same application on multiple social networks? Ok. You want to maintain one set of code for your application? Who doesn't. Time will tell where open social goes -- but my guess would be further than FB's API.... And if Microsoft didn't now have a stake of Facebook, FB would maybe consider supporting it sooner.

Developers buy some coffee beans and grab a few cases of your favorite caffeinated soda -- It's going to be a wild next few months.

Bostons Best

This post will be about Boston, and why I love my home city. Typing on my cellphone wont cut it, so for now i leave you with a picture of the eve!


Update: (Few months later...)
Well, it's a bit colder now... but being an avid snowboarding fiend sort of makes this cold weather make me feel like I am in my element.. Well I was born up in Maine. Boston in the winter is cold, you dress for it, and just deal with it -- The train gets you into the city quickly, I can hop out on the commuter rail to enjoy a nice evening at the beach in Gloucester... or if I'm working late, just hop over a few stops within Boston. Driving in, I guess is a different story... I've done it once, and that was enough to not do it again... On the train, the time is yours to read, think, write, or just zone out to some of your favorite music. Not to mention the environmental impact and cost of commuting by car.... Once you are in town, getting around is quick. Being frugal, Taxi/Limo are not usually the norm. Walking preferred, but sometimes wind up using my monthly T pass to get around a bit further quickly... Coffee, get your fresh beans at your favorite shop. Restaurants, I have a good one for each day of the week, or even month to try out... I bring in left-overs whenever possible, but it allows for the occasional lunchtime splurge (hey, after-all mantinee 's are cheaper than primetime). Fridays vegetable market deals, Northends Ernesto pizza, Chinatown's Pho Pasteur's noodle soup, West Ends Vivo Burritos, Downtowns Al's subs, Artu's of Charles St's prosciutto mozzarella, Scollay's squares Beacon Hill elegance -- Ok, I guess I can go on about food for a while... Amante amare, no?

I think I save the rest of the city's great characteristics for a future post, I'm now feeling pretty hungry...

Octoberfest

GSM unlocked and unbranded

Luckily, T-mobile gave me the unlock code to my first GSM phone. I had to enter a special code that they emailed me, and enter a password and that was it. T-Mobile I think is one of the few carriers in the US that allows this(They want you to use your T-Mobile phone overseas too on their networks there). My t68i was a great phone, but it actually lacked one of the frequencies used by North America, especially in rural areas.. Worked fine in the city... I also am a Cingular, Pay as you go customer... I just need to pop a different SIM card in, and I'm on Cingulars network. I have found this handy in a few dead spots up in the mountains.

My k790a unlocking was a bit trickier. I really got hooked on Sony Ericsson's phones, they are loaded with really useful features.. This one has a 3 megapixel camera and loads of other features. One problem, this phone was only available in Canada, and it was locked to a canadian carrier. So I bought it off ebay, locked, it was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the unlocked version.

Then the fun begins, I still had my t68i but one of the buttons started to act up.. I got a new Blackberry Pearl from T-mobile, wait a few weeks and unlock it, sell it on Ebay brand new, and it all comes out in the wash as an upgrade to the phone I actually wanted, not the one the carrier is pushing to sell.

Unlocking the k790a took a bit of research... If you are not technical, have one of your tech friends do it or visit any non-carrier gsm reseller and pay a guy to do it. The phone came with a USB cable, so that was key, I knew I could somehow use my computer to unlock it. I used Davinci Teams software to unlock it, and Mobile2Mobile.net's software to unbrand it.

Radiohead's - In Rainbows released.

As I download Radiohead's new album directly from their website at 335kb/second, I also write this post to promote their new album. This album isn't chopped up for sale for 1$ per song, this album isn't at the store for 20$ for the CD. This album is available online for the price of **.**.

One more time, **.**. That means, you determine the price. I bought the downloadable album for .01 pounds(they are a UK band) to try before buy, and of course if you use credit card, Visa want's their 'processing fee' of .45 pounds. So the whole digital album cost me about US 1$ dollar. I heard a lot of these songs back in June when they were on tour, but I wanted to download and hear the studio quality versions before splurging for the more expensive 3fer Downloads + CD + Vinyl set packaged together. There is no record industry middleman in this transaction, Band -> Fan, so my words of wisdom, buy a few sets and save them as a piece of history as one of the first albums to take the recording industry out of the picture, completely.. and deliver their music to fans to decide the true worth of the music.

Oh, my downloads done... time to check it out.

UPDATE:
After listening to the album about 5 times, it's definately a Radiohead classic that gets better with each listen. That infectious electric keyboard, and his unique voice that just grows on you like it did for classics like 'Karma Police' and 'Creep'. I like it better than Kid A, and I liked that album too. I'm throwing the commererative discbox (Record+CD) onto the wishlist....

got mail?

Remember back before the days of email, how in the morning you'd send out maybe a letter or a bill and raise the flag on the side of your mailbox? Then on your way home, you would check the box, grab anything inside and take it home to sort and read. Send in the morning, receive/respond in the evening...

2007, and email (electronic mail) has become such a part of our lives that we wonder how we may have gotten along without it. Then again, we probably used that novel invention the telephone a lot more frequently... But that point aside, I am planning to revert back towards the days of old, and send a few personal messages in the morning and once again read/send a few in the evening... What does this mean if you want an immediate quick response from me? You may just have to call or txt me. The major motivation for this? I want to figure out the best mix of frequency and amount of time spent communicating through email, and I'll start by minimizing it to just twice a day... Lets see how long it lasts, maybe I'll check my email just one more time before I post this!

Haymarket

10$ for fruits and vegs goes a long way here!

Early Adoption of beta software

Are you an early adopter? Do you like to beta test software before it is available to the general public? Do you have some accounts with beta software companies, with some invites to spare?

Well this new site, InviteShare is designed to help you put those spare invites to good use, and in return, get access to some of those beta sites that you don't have access to...

I sent a few GrandCentral invites, and in exchange I got an account with Joost!
I recommend using a spare email address though, even though they do take some measures to make sure your email address won't be harvested by spammers, it is always good to use your spam/spare email address for things like this....

Family vaca 07

Flickr album of photos

Folly beach near Charleston, South Carolina was very nice, and we enjoyed our time with the Platings over at Lake Hartwell, in northern Georgia.