Thursday, December 16, 2004
Programmer's Paradise
Yes, I know I haven't been too good about updating this thing recently, but to be quite honest I haven't really felt like doing it. I have no specific reason to explain this...although it probably has a lot to do with the amount of time it takes me to write an entry, which is generally at least an hour. Oh well, I'm writing now, and since I haven't done a whole heck of a lot between the last time I wrote and now, it shouldn't take me all that long. So here we go.
Tuesday was not the best. I got to the Volkswagen dealer by about 11 to have my rear-view mirror glued back on to my windshield, which I assumed would be about a ten-minute process. It turned out it was a ten-minute process - to glue the mirror on. But they couldn't let me drive until the glue was dry, which took over two hours. Sigh. I had them shuttle me over to the Good Guys just across the freeway so I could browse the electronics, both there and at the Circuit City across the street. I was also lucky to have my crossword puzzle book with me in the car, so I brought that along to help me kill the time. I had lunch by myself at McDonald's, and upon finishing I remained there to do almost an entire crossword puzzle (which I think I'm getting better at). So wasn't that fun. I think I had my car back somewhere in the neighborhood of 2:00-2:30. Hey, at least it didn't cost me anything (it was pretty hard for the dealer to argue that the mirror falling off within an hour of purchase of the car was "normal wear and tear").
From Escondido I took highway 78 all the way east into Ramona. That's quite a nice drive, going through orange groves and past the Wild Animal Park...you know, that area. Emu farms and whatnot. I don't remember what I did for a little while at Dad's, but after not too long I was driving the pair of us down to San Marcos so we could go to Fry's so I could see about CD players for the Jetta and also to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Upon arrival at Fry's we found the car audio department and asked if they had anything that was compatible with the VW stereo (the Jetta came with a very nice audio system, sans the CD but with hookups for one already in place). They told us no. Period. So hooray for driving for 45 minutes before calling them for thirty seconds. Oh well. The Spaghetti Factory was good.
I drove all the way back to Ramona to drop Dad off, and then I drove all the way back into Rancho Bernardo to go to Alena's for a couple of hours to help her study for physics. (I actually remember some mechanics!) This was not as exciting as helping Rosalie with hers, simply because Alena pretty much had everything figured out and there wasn't very much she needed help with. But that's good news for her; she had a test yesterday and she seemed to think that she did pretty well on it. So woot. I drove all the way back to Ramona at about 11, bringing my total of Ramona-to-civilization one-way trips to five for that day.
Wednesday was another I-don't-have-all-that-much-to-do kind of day. I read through the manual for my Jetta, learning all the oh-so-great features that came with it. Have you ever seen that VW commercial where the guy's reading his manual and then seems to read something exciting so he drags his wife outside to where he's parked his new VW? He puts the key in the driver's door and watches in amazement as all four windows roll down by themselves...yeah, my Jetta does that. I don't really know when I'll ever use that feature, but it did make me laugh when I read it in the manual. I showed the feature to Mom and she had pretty much the same reaction as the wife in the commercial: she rolled her eyes and walked back inside. Hey, I think it's cool!
The other thing I did yesterday was program all of the lights in Dad's house into his home automation. Now, (almost) every lightswitch has a computer address, so you can control them all from one of the three touchscreens he's installed in the house. It's fun to stand in the laundry room and turn all the lights off in the living room, across the house. Now I know this seems to be something that's more for computer geeks and has no practical application, but let me argue my case here. Now that you can control the lights from the home automation system, you can program them to do all sorts of things. For example, you can turn every light in the house off with the touch of a button when you leave. Handy, huh? Or, if the smoke alarm goes off or if the security alarm is tripped at night, you can set every light in the house to go on. You can also write a program for, say, a "vacation mode" for when no one will be in the house for a few days that will arm the security system, set the heating/cooling system to a more energy-efficient mode, and turn on certain lights for a few hours when it gets dark so that it looks like people are home. So honestly there are some useful things you can do with this system. It may take computer geeks (like Dad and me) to program them, but any idiot can operate the programs. At any rate, it's fun.
I had a quick dinner with Dad and then I drove back down into RB to pick up Alena. The two of us went to the orchestra concert, which was excellent as always. (I particularly enjoyed the harpist...I might have to learn how to play harp someday.) I saw all sorts of people at the concert who I haven't seen in ages, although I was moderately disappointed when nobody wanted to do anything after the concert. I suppose all the high-schoolers had class the next day, but what's up with the college kids wanting to go home at 9? Boo hoo...so I dropped Alena back off at home and drove back up to Ramona. (As much as I do enjoy staying here with Dad, it is most inconvenient to have to drive at least a half an hour to get anywhere of interest.)
So yeah, that's what I've been up to for the last couple of days. Not very exciting, huh? Well, Joanna and Stacie will be getting home either last night, today, or tomorrow, and the RB people will be on break starting Friday at 2:25...so that's when the fun will begin! Hooray. I'll look forward to that. But for now, I'm going to go program more home automation.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: I'm feeling a little isolated up here on the mountain
music: "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish; not the pep band version
location: office, Dad's house, Ramona, CA
Family Guy Quote-of-the-Day
[Referring to Peter's father, who left a baseball game unexpectedly]
Lois: "So he just left without saying anything?"
Peter: "All I asked him to do was buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks."
Brian: "I don't care if he ever gets back......Seriously. I wasn't being cute. I really hope he's dead."
Tuesday was not the best. I got to the Volkswagen dealer by about 11 to have my rear-view mirror glued back on to my windshield, which I assumed would be about a ten-minute process. It turned out it was a ten-minute process - to glue the mirror on. But they couldn't let me drive until the glue was dry, which took over two hours. Sigh. I had them shuttle me over to the Good Guys just across the freeway so I could browse the electronics, both there and at the Circuit City across the street. I was also lucky to have my crossword puzzle book with me in the car, so I brought that along to help me kill the time. I had lunch by myself at McDonald's, and upon finishing I remained there to do almost an entire crossword puzzle (which I think I'm getting better at). So wasn't that fun. I think I had my car back somewhere in the neighborhood of 2:00-2:30. Hey, at least it didn't cost me anything (it was pretty hard for the dealer to argue that the mirror falling off within an hour of purchase of the car was "normal wear and tear").
From Escondido I took highway 78 all the way east into Ramona. That's quite a nice drive, going through orange groves and past the Wild Animal Park...you know, that area. Emu farms and whatnot. I don't remember what I did for a little while at Dad's, but after not too long I was driving the pair of us down to San Marcos so we could go to Fry's so I could see about CD players for the Jetta and also to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Upon arrival at Fry's we found the car audio department and asked if they had anything that was compatible with the VW stereo (the Jetta came with a very nice audio system, sans the CD but with hookups for one already in place). They told us no. Period. So hooray for driving for 45 minutes before calling them for thirty seconds. Oh well. The Spaghetti Factory was good.
I drove all the way back to Ramona to drop Dad off, and then I drove all the way back into Rancho Bernardo to go to Alena's for a couple of hours to help her study for physics. (I actually remember some mechanics!) This was not as exciting as helping Rosalie with hers, simply because Alena pretty much had everything figured out and there wasn't very much she needed help with. But that's good news for her; she had a test yesterday and she seemed to think that she did pretty well on it. So woot. I drove all the way back to Ramona at about 11, bringing my total of Ramona-to-civilization one-way trips to five for that day.
Wednesday was another I-don't-have-all-that-much-to-do kind of day. I read through the manual for my Jetta, learning all the oh-so-great features that came with it. Have you ever seen that VW commercial where the guy's reading his manual and then seems to read something exciting so he drags his wife outside to where he's parked his new VW? He puts the key in the driver's door and watches in amazement as all four windows roll down by themselves...yeah, my Jetta does that. I don't really know when I'll ever use that feature, but it did make me laugh when I read it in the manual. I showed the feature to Mom and she had pretty much the same reaction as the wife in the commercial: she rolled her eyes and walked back inside. Hey, I think it's cool!
The other thing I did yesterday was program all of the lights in Dad's house into his home automation. Now, (almost) every lightswitch has a computer address, so you can control them all from one of the three touchscreens he's installed in the house. It's fun to stand in the laundry room and turn all the lights off in the living room, across the house. Now I know this seems to be something that's more for computer geeks and has no practical application, but let me argue my case here. Now that you can control the lights from the home automation system, you can program them to do all sorts of things. For example, you can turn every light in the house off with the touch of a button when you leave. Handy, huh? Or, if the smoke alarm goes off or if the security alarm is tripped at night, you can set every light in the house to go on. You can also write a program for, say, a "vacation mode" for when no one will be in the house for a few days that will arm the security system, set the heating/cooling system to a more energy-efficient mode, and turn on certain lights for a few hours when it gets dark so that it looks like people are home. So honestly there are some useful things you can do with this system. It may take computer geeks (like Dad and me) to program them, but any idiot can operate the programs. At any rate, it's fun.
I had a quick dinner with Dad and then I drove back down into RB to pick up Alena. The two of us went to the orchestra concert, which was excellent as always. (I particularly enjoyed the harpist...I might have to learn how to play harp someday.) I saw all sorts of people at the concert who I haven't seen in ages, although I was moderately disappointed when nobody wanted to do anything after the concert. I suppose all the high-schoolers had class the next day, but what's up with the college kids wanting to go home at 9? Boo hoo...so I dropped Alena back off at home and drove back up to Ramona. (As much as I do enjoy staying here with Dad, it is most inconvenient to have to drive at least a half an hour to get anywhere of interest.)
So yeah, that's what I've been up to for the last couple of days. Not very exciting, huh? Well, Joanna and Stacie will be getting home either last night, today, or tomorrow, and the RB people will be on break starting Friday at 2:25...so that's when the fun will begin! Hooray. I'll look forward to that. But for now, I'm going to go program more home automation.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: I'm feeling a little isolated up here on the mountain
music: "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish; not the pep band version
location: office, Dad's house, Ramona, CA
Family Guy Quote-of-the-Day
[Referring to Peter's father, who left a baseball game unexpectedly]
Lois: "So he just left without saying anything?"
Peter: "All I asked him to do was buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks."
Brian: "I don't care if he ever gets back......Seriously. I wasn't being cute. I really hope he's dead."
