a garage sale for your mind

Getting and Setting a File's Extended Attributes

2012-01-01T16:17:00.001-05:00

One last code snippet....

This'll let you get and set the extended attributes on a file in OS X. It uses setxattr() / getxattr() / listxattr(), but it's all wrapped up in ARC-dependent Objective-C. When setting a value you can pass in either an NSString or an NSData.

Enjoy.

#import <errno.h>
#import <stdio.h>
#import <sys/xattr.h>

+ (BOOL)setValue:(NSObject *)value forName:(NSString *)name onFile:(NSString *)filePath
{
  int err;
  const void *bytes = NULL;
  size_t length = 0;
  
  if ([value isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) {
    bytes = [(NSString *)value UTF8String];
    length = [(NSString *)value lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
  }
  else if ([value isKindOfClass:[NSData class]]) {
    bytes = [(NSData *)value bytes];
    length = [(NSData *)value length];
  }
  else {
    NSLog(@"%s.. unsupported data type, %@", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, NSStringFromClass([value class]));
    return FALSE;
  }
  
  if (0 != (err = setxattr([filePath UTF8String], [name UTF8String], bytes, length, 0, 0))) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. failed to setxattr(%@), %s", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, filePath, strerror(errno));
  }
  
  return TRUE;
}

+ (NSData *)getDataValueForName:(NSString *)name onFile:(NSString *)filePath
{
  ssize_t size;
  void *buffer[4096];
  
  if (0 > (size = getxattr([filePath UTF8String], [name UTF8String], buffer, sizeof(buffer), 0, 0)) || size > sizeof(buffer)) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. failed to getxattr(%@), %s", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, filePath, strerror(errno));
    return nil;
  }
  
  return [[NSData alloc] initWithBytes:buffer length:size];
}

+ (NSDictionary *)getAllValuesOnFile:(NSString *)filePath
{
  ssize_t size;
  char buffer[4096], *bufferPtr;
  NSMutableDictionary *attributes = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
  
  if (0 > (size = listxattr([filePath UTF8String], buffer, sizeof(buffer), 00)) || size > sizeof(buffer)) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. failed to listxattr(%@), %s", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, filePath, strerror(errno));
    return nil;
  }
  
  bufferPtr = buffer;
  
  for (ssize_t bufferNdx = 0; bufferNdx < size; ) {
    NSString *name = [NSString stringWithCString:bufferPtr encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSData *value = [self getDataValueForName:name onFile:filePath];
    unsigned long namelen = strlen(bufferPtr);
    
    if (name && value)
      [attributes setValue:value forKey:name];
    
    bufferPtr += namelen + 1;
    bufferNdx += namelen + 1;
  }
  
  return attributes;
}

OS X Computer Name and Local Host Name

2012-01-01T16:08:00.003-05:00

On OS X your computer name and local host name are stored in a preference file - accessible via SCPreferences. In a recent project I needed these values. The following two Objective-C functions are what I'm using. The excessive error reporting was really only necessary while I was testing these; feel free to remove it.

The SCPreferences documentation suggests locking the file before reading any values so as to avoid the possibility of reading old data. I never could get the file to lock, and I suspect it's a root-only feature.

ARC-dependent, of course.


+ (NSString *)computerName
{
  SCPreferencesRef prefs = SCPreferencesCreate(nil, CFSTR("com.super-pigeon.SuperPigeonMac"), nil);
  
  if (!prefs) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. ERROR: failed to SPPreferencesCreate()", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSDictionary *system = (__bridge NSDictionary *)SCPreferencesGetValue(prefs, kSCPrefSystem);
  
  if (!system) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. ERROR: failed to SCPreferencesGetValue(kSCPrefSystem)", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSDictionary *system2 = [system objectForKey:@"System"];
  
  if (!system2) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. ERROR: failed to get 'System'", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSString *computerName = [system2 objectForKey:@"ComputerName"];
  
  if (!computerName) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. failed to get 'ComputerName'", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSString *value = [NSString stringWithString:computerName];
  
  CFRelease(prefs);
  
  return value;
}

+ (NSString *)localHostName
{
  SCPreferencesRef prefs = SCPreferencesCreate(nil, CFSTR("com.super-pigeon.SuperPigeonMac"), nil);
  
  if (!prefs) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. ERROR: failed to SPPreferencesCreate()", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSDictionary *system = (__bridge NSDictionary *)SCPreferencesGetValue(prefs, kSCPrefSystem);
  
  if (!system) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. ERROR: failed to SCPreferencesGetValue(kSCPrefSystem)", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSDictionary *network = [system objectForKey:@"Network"];
  
  if (!network) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. ERROR: failed to get 'Network'", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSDictionary *hostNames = [network objectForKey:@"HostNames"];
  
  if (!hostNames) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. failed to get 'HostNames'", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSString *localHostName = [hostNames objectForKey:@"LocalHostName"];
  
  if (!localHostName) {
    NSLog(@"%s.. failed to get 'LocalHostName'", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
    return nil;
  }
  
  NSString *value = [localHostName stringByAppendingString:@".local"];
  
  CFRelease(prefs);
  
  return value;
}

Human Readable File Size & Duration

2012-01-01T15:33:00.003-05:00

Here's a little Objective-C code for creating a human-readable file size given a quantity of bytes. If you're not using ARC this'll leak memory.

It's roughly modeled off the behavior of the Finder - that is, no more than two decimal places; powers of ten instead of powers of two. Also it loses a little precision. I'll update this later after I've improved it - later.

+ (NSString *)humanReadableFileSize:(unsigned long long)fileSize
{
  static unsigned long long tb = 1000ULL * 1000ULL * 1000ULL * 1000ULL;
  static unsigned long long gb = 1000ULL * 1000ULL * 1000ULL;
  static unsigned long long mb = 1000ULL * 1000ULL;
  static unsigned long long kb = 1000ULL;
  
  unsigned long long divisor = 0;
  NSString *magnitude = nil;
  
  if (fileSize == 0)
    return @"Zero bytes";
  else if (fileSize > tb) {
    divisor = tb;
    magnitude = @"TB";
  }
  else if (fileSize > gb) {
    divisor = gb;
    magnitude = @"GB";
  }
  else if (fileSize > mb) {
    divisor = mb;
    magnitude = @"MB";
  }
  else if (fileSize > kb) {
    divisor = kb;
    magnitude = @"KB";
  }
  else
    return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%llu bytes", fileSize];
  
  unsigned long long whole = (fileSize / divisor);
  unsigned long long part = (fileSize - (whole * divisor)) / (divisor / 1000);
  unsigned long long tenths = part / 100;
  unsigned long long hundredths = (part - (tenths * 100)) / 10;
  
  NSMutableString *fileSizeStr = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
  [fileSizeStr appendFormat:@"%llu", whole];
  
  if (tenths) {
    [fileSizeStr appendString:@"."];
    [fileSizeStr appendFormat:@"%llu", tenths];
    
    if (hundredths)
      [fileSizeStr appendFormat:@"%llu", hundredths];
  }
  else if (hundredths) {
    [fileSizeStr appendString:@".0"];
    [fileSizeStr appendFormat:@"%llu", hundredths];
  }
  
  [fileSizeStr appendString:@" "];
  [fileSizeStr appendString:magnitude];
  
  return fileSizeStr;
}

Along the same lines, given a duration in milliseconds (the first function) or a start and end time as timevals (the second function), these will create an hh:mm:ss.sss formatted string.


+ (NSString *)durationInMillisecondsToTime:(int64_t)duration
{
  NSInteger hours=0, minutes=0, seconds=0, millis=0;
  
  if (duration > 3600000L) {
    hours = duration / 3600000L;
    duration -= (hours * 3600000L);
  }
  
  if (duration > 60000L) {
    minutes = duration / 60000L;
    duration -= (minutes * 60000L);
  }
  
  if (duration > 1000L) {
    seconds = duration / 1000L;
    duration -= (seconds * 1000L);
  }
  
  millis = duration;
  
  return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02d:%02d:%02d.%d", hours, minutes, seconds, millis];
}

+ (NSString *)durationFrom:(struct timeval)tv1 until:(struct timeval)tv2
{
  int64_t beg, end;
  
  beg = (int64_t)tv1.tv_sec * 1000000L;
  beg += tv1.tv_usec;
  
  end = (int64_t)tv2.tv_sec * 1000000L;
  end += tv2.tv_usec;
  
  return [self durationInMillisecondsToTime:(end-beg)/1000L];
}

Sparkle Automation with Xcode 4

2011-12-22T05:15:00.000-05:00

I added Sparkle, for the first time, to a project. Sparkle is the (fairly) painless way to add automatic updating to a program. However, for security, there are a few steps you must take each time you want to publish an update - like code signing, xml changes, zip'ing, etc.

To use this script to automate the Sparkle update process, you have to do a couple things:

1. Add a new "run script" build step to your Xcode 4 project.

2. Modify the "DSA_SIG" value in the script to point to the Sparkle signing Ruby script (that came with Sparkle) and your private key.

3. If you have per-version release notes, update the code related to "DESCRIPTION" to reflect where the release notes are located.

if [ $CONFIGURATION = "Debug" ]; then

    echo "This is not a release build. Skipping Sparkle stuff."
    exit
fi

PLIST_FILE=""

if [ -f "$INFOPLIST_FILE" ]; then
  PLIST_FILE="$INFOPLIST_FILE"
else
  if [ -f "$SRCROOT/$INFOPLIST_FILE" ]; then
    PLIST_FILE="$SRCROOT/$INFOPLIST_FILE"
  else
    exit 0
  fi
fi

DOMAIN="curtisjones.us"

# get the bundle version from the plist
VERSION=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print CFBundleShortVersionString" $PLIST_FILE)

# file names and file paths
ZIP_NAME="MyProject-$VERSION.zip"
ZIP_PATH="$HOME/Desktop/$ZIP_NAME"
APP_PATH="$CODESIGNING_FOLDER_PATH"
XML_PATH="$HOME/Desktop/MyProject-$VERSION.xml"

# release notes. read from version-number specific file in the project dir?
if [ -f "$PROJECT_DIR/Documentation/Release Notes/$VERSION.txt" ]; then
    DESCRIPTION=$(< "$PROJECT_DIR/Documentation/Release Notes/$VERSION.txt")
else
    DESCRIPTION="No release notes available."
fi

# we need the fancy-formatted gmt date for the sparkle xml
DATE=$(TZ=GMT date)

# compress the .app; the resulting zip file will live in the same location

cd "$APP_PATH/.."

rm "$ZIP_PATH"

zip -r "$ZIP_PATH" "$FULL_PRODUCT_NAME"

# the size of the zip file
FILESIZE=$(stat -f "%z" "$ZIP_PATH")

# generate a signature for the zip file
DSA_SIG=$(ruby "$PROJECT_DIR/sparkle_sign.rb" "$ZIP_PATH" "$PROJECT_DIR/sparkle_priv.pem")

cat > "$XML_PATH" <<EOF
<item>
  <title>Version $VERSION</title>
  <description><![CDATA[$DESCRIPTION]]></description>
  <sparkle:releaseNotesLink>http://$DOMAIN/notes/$VERSION.html</sparkle:releaseNotesLink>
  <pubDate>$DATE +0000</pubDate>
  <enclosure url="http://$DOMAIN/releases/$ZIP_NAME"
    sparkle:version="$VERSION"
    sparkle:dsaSignature="$DSA_SIG"
    length="$FILESIZE"
    type="application/octet-stream" />
</item>
EOF

Metal Tornado

2011-11-01T12:49:00.000-04:00

You haven't witnessed true cinema greatness until you've endured Metal Tornado. I don't want to spoil the ending for you, but Philadelphia was saved (in some sense) while Paris was not so lucky:

When metal tornados strike.

New Bike

2011-10-11T21:37:00.002-04:00

My birthday is tomorrow. It's been my custom to be out-of-town on my birthday whenever possible. My job situations (yes, plural) conspired against me this year and prevented that from happening this year.Recently I acquired a new bike (very similar to the picture below; a Civia Bryant). I eschewed the '70s technology that lingers in "modern" bikes like metal chains, cantilever brakes and derailleurs and ended up with a belt drive, internal gear hub and disc brakes. It's a true thing of beauty. Appreciate the picture now.

Aimee (no doubt in a fit of either guilt or non-sobriety) committed at a North Georgia bike ride as a birthday present for me. I've been trying to get her to come with me for a while now. Phil might be coming along with us too. There are few joys to compare with flying at 30+ mph downhill with no effort.This bike appears adequate for a cross-country trip. Hopefully work with eventually accommodate such a trip.

McKinley 2011

2011-09-02T22:07:00.002-04:00

Here's the video that Wes put together of our May, 2011 McKinley (West Buttress) trip. Enjoy. http://curtisjones.us/excursions/20110505-MtMcKinley/wes.m4v

In-door Rowing

2011-09-01T01:29:00.000-04:00

I "treated" myself to an in-door rower which arrived one week ago.

I love numbers. And collections of numbers. And adding to collections of numbers. I've spent more time staring at my rowing spreadsheet on my iPad this past week than I'll ever admit - distances, durations, meters-per-second, 500m split times, cumulative durations, calories, records and so on - it's all there. And it's glorious.

In the past seven days (five days of rowing) I've covered 45k in 03:10:40 (hh:mm:ss) burning some 3,000+ calories. I choose not to calculate my increased food cost. The most interesting stat is wattage though. Assuming some method of lossless DC conversion, I can power three average laptops for roughly half an hour while simultaneously trickle-charging their batteries. It's not an ideal solution during blackouts, but it's a fun thought.

Here's to hoping it doesn't grow old anytime soon.

Winter is Coming

2011-08-27T14:26:00.002-04:00

I spent ten days in Austin recently during a 70+ day streak of 100+ degree temperatures, so when I came across this picture (after returning to Atlanta), I felt a special connection with it.

Apricots

2011-07-23T22:02:00.002-04:00

Apricots. I'm sorry for my prolonged absence. I don't know how I survived without you. You're so very delicious.

Mission Control v1 = Spaces v0.5

2011-07-22T16:55:00.001-04:00

Numerous reviews and personal comments on Lion have indicated how amazing Mission Control is. Most of these authors precede their praise by admitting, almost proudly, "I never used Spaces much." Spaces added two extra dimensions to the traditional two-dimensional desktop. It was glorious. My work, my windows, my applications - they were all arranged spatially such that the frequently accessed windows were easiest to get to (in terms of number of keystrokes), and the lesser used windows were less conveniently accessed.

Mission Control took that control; that organizational beauty; those two extra dimensions; and reduced it to a straight line. Kid's stuff. A playground instead of rock climbing. Rounded-edge scissors instead of a razor blade. Etch-a-sketch instead of drafting tools. And now everyone concludes that Mission Control is brilliant.

It wasn't until Mission Control was announced that I discovered that essentially no one uses Spaces. So, what were these people doing? All of your applications and windows crowding and overlapping in a single desktop? Seriously? And they aren't covering their heads in shame? "How else would you do it?" - I'm sure someone has retorted.

I have no doubt that Mac OS X 10.8 will introduce Mission Control 2, which will allow for a grid of desktops instead of just a line, and everyone will wonder how they got along with just that one line.

Five Guys Online Fail

2011-07-22T14:39:00.001-04:00

While heading for a Chipotle I made an unexpected detour for a near-by Five Guys burger place. Absolutely delicious. And I noticed that they seem to start the burgers when you order. That's good for freshness, but not so good if you're in a hurry. It's well worth the wait though. But this time I placed my order online. The ad claimed, "skip the line". I'm not sure which line they're referring to though, because you still have to stand in the order line like everyone else - I learned when I went straight to the "pick up" line. I asked the cashier about this, after I finally arrived at the front of the order line. He explained, "well, if you order fries, then we start them as soon as you arrive." But I didn't order fries. "Yes, but if you did order fries...." So what's the point in ordering online? He didn't have a satisfactory answer.

I could have been in and out of the store thirty seconds if someone could just hand me my order, which I saw sitting amongst a few other orders, in the corner.

It's not like the several minutes I spent in the store was that costly; but when they obviously have the ability to cut that time down from minutes to seconds and yet they choose not to....

Whatever.

Battle: Los Angeles

2011-06-04T03:02:00.000-04:00

It was like Independence Day, but without a "who" or "why" or any other such explanation. The heroes were good, but the movie lacked any songs from Rage, who produced an album of the same name, and for which I was expecting at least a little tribute.

Ehh.

It was better than Cloverfield insofar as they employed tripods for their cameras. And I appreciate that.

Spot Programmer Failure

2011-05-30T18:15:00.002-04:00

So, the Spot Messenger iOS app on my iPad was acting up a bit. Not sure what else to try, I hit the "logout" button, thinking that would let me "start from scratch". When I hit "login", the app informed me that, "you need internet access to log in". Oh. Freakin'. Great.

And thus I was never able to send the, "Everything is better with butter and bacon" message, nor any messages after that. I cached the Spot Messenger at 11,200-feet and left it behind.

I'm going to call the Spot people and complain. There really isn't much they can do though. It's just irritating....

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-15T00:23:00.001-04:00

Back-carried from 10k; carry to 14k tmrw.

  Location: 63.07472, -151.14568
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Mt. McKinley - Camp 3
  Location: -151.14569, 63.07477
  Distance: 0.00 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Back-carried from 10k; carry to 14k tmrw.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-14T21:17:00.001-04:00

Back-carried from 10k; carry to 14k tmrw.

  Location: 63.07482, -151.14574
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Mt. McKinley - Camp 3
  Location: -151.14569, 63.07477
  Distance: 0.00 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Back-carried from 10k; carry to 14k tmrw.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-13T23:24:00.001-04:00

Chillin' at Camp 3; perfect weather.

  Location: 63.07479, -151.14574
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Mt. McKinley - Camp 3
  Location: -151.14569, 63.07477
  Distance: 0.00 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Chillin' at Camp 3; perfect weather.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-11T19:58:00.000-04:00

The Germans put their tent in our kitchen

  Location: 63.03065, -151.18411
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Mt. McKinley - Camp 1
  Location: -151.18378, 63.02772
  Distance: 0.20 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: The Germans put their tent in our kitchen

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-11T16:51:00.001-04:00

Bad weather outside; warm inside; goldfsh

  Location: 63.03065, -151.18404
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Mt. McKinley - Camp 1
  Location: -151.18378, 63.02772
  Distance: 0.20 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Bad weather outside; warm inside; goldfsh

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-11T02:36:00.001-04:00

BC to C1. 8F & 25mph winds. Freakin' cold

  Location: 63.03067, -151.18402
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Mt. McKinley - Camp 1
  Location: -151.18378, 63.02772
  Distance: 0.20 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: BC to C1. 8F & 25mph winds. Freakin' cold

2011-05-10T11:02:00.000-04:00

Clean for the last time this month. About to eat a Standard Half breakfast and then pay the ranger station a visit.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-09T22:53:00.001-04:00

Mtn High Pizza Pie + red wine.

  Location: 62.3233, -150.11501
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Talkeetna, Alaska, USA
  Location: -150.08694, 62.31139
  Distance: 1.22 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.04 miles

Message: Mtn High Pizza Pie + red wine.

Anchorage, Wasilla and Talkeetna

2011-05-09T13:08:00.001-04:00

I made it into Anchorage on time. That five and a half hour flight from Minneapolis in coach was a killer. The fat kid next to me who didn't understand that the armrest customarily serves as a boundary, didn't help the flight go by any faster.

Denali Overland is supposed to pick us up from this downtown hotel later this morning and take us to Wasilla for some grocery shopping and then on to Talkeetna where we'll spend the rest of the day eating and sorting gear in the ~~Hudson~~ Sheldon hangar.

Tomorrow we'll do the ranger orientation thing and, weather permitting, fly onto the glacier that morning.

2011-05-08T15:22:00.005-04:00

Here I am lounging in the Sky Club in Atlanta. After enduring the ritualistic search for the Sky Club through the A gates, I checked in at the front desk, found my way to the bar and pushed a Twenty to the bartender. "Do you want change?" "Just take care of me for the next couple of hours." With drink and snacks in hand, I went in search of a seat. Apparently Mother's Day is a popular day to travel. Seats were far from abundant. At least I'm consoled knowing that most of these folks are not going to be crowding the mountains in Alaska. I'm off to MSO (First Class) and then to Anchorage (possibly Coach). I say goodbye to "civilization" and welcome being in a small town of civilized people.

--

Here I am lounging in the Sky Club in Minneapolis. I had forgotten how ridiculously long this airport is. Anyway, this Sky Club is empty in comparison. Just one five-and-a-half hour flight remaining and I'm sixteenth in line for an upgrade. Coach it is....

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-05-07T22:33:00.001-04:00

Last test run. All packed. Ready to go.

  Location: 34.123, -84.26227
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - Alpharetta, Georgia
  Location: -84.26258, 34.12298
  Distance: 0.02 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Last test run. All packed. Ready to go.

Nearly Ready

2011-05-07T10:07:00.001-04:00

I've got twenty-eight pounds of food ready to go - including lunch snacks (for 20 - 22 days) and freeze dried breakfasts and dinners (for 12 days). The missing meals will be "fresh" food breakfasts (bagels + cheese, pancakes + blueberries, poptarts, oatmeal, granola) and dinners (shepherd's pie, burritos, ramen soup + chicken, gumbo, quesadillas, cream of broccoli, grilled cheese + tomato soup). They weigh more than going all-freeze-dried, but you get much happier climbers and that's worth the weight.

The plan is still to climb the West Buttress (of Denali), but I hold out hope that Wes can be convinced to climb Sultana Ridge (Foraker).

As always, location updates (and short text messages) will be posted here on the blog and at whereiscurtis.com. Additionally, Wes' blog will be updated after his periodic satellite phone calls back home: xxtinguish.blogspot.com.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-04-22T20:28:00.001-04:00

I'm dry. That's nice. Wish I had Goldfish

  Location: 34.75191, -83.94916
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Blood Mountain, Georgia, USA
  Location: -83.93750, 34.74000
  Distance: 1.06 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: I'm dry. That's nice. Wish I had Goldfish

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-04-22T18:59:00.001-04:00

Middle of nowhere. Knee hurts. Mimosa.

  Location: 34.7518, -83.94925
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Blood Mountain, Georgia, USA
  Location: -83.93750, 34.74000
  Distance: 1.05 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Middle of nowhere. Knee hurts. Mimosa.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-04-15T13:16:00.002-04:00

Zero miles down, fifty-five remaining.

  Location: 34.74195, -83.92279
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Blood Mountain, Georgia, USA
  Location: -83.93750, 34.74000
  Distance: 0.85 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Zero miles down, fifty-five remaining.

--

A big storm was predicted to hit Friday afternoon and possibly again Saturday afternoon. I packed up for a Fri-Sat hiking/camping trip. It's a fine time to go if you don't want to face crowded trails.

My plan was the Duncan Ridge loop (AT -> BMT -> Duncan), a fifty-three-ish mile hike along trails of varying quality. But, if you factor in the (allegedly) poorly maintained Duncan Ridge trail, plus a storm, and at least a couple inevitable wrong/missed turns, all I knew was that I had enough food (and This American Life episodes) to get lost for the weekend and remain content. As it turns out, I ran out of TAL episodes half-way through. That was a bummer.

The rain - so. much. rain. - started (and didn't stop) Friday evening, as promised, but the wind died down (for a while) at the same time, making the whole being-completely-soaked thing mostly tolerable. Nineteen-ish miles in, night had long since fallen. I crossed a camp which was also at the intersection of a couple gravel forest service roads. The wind had picked up (yeah, cold + wet + wind) and visibility (due to a thick fog) allowed me to nearly see the ground I was walking on. Having strayed for several seconds beyond camp I could no longer see it. I zig-zagged back for a while trying to spot the reflective tents I had seen moments ago. It took a while. The near-by lightning helped.

Decision time. 1) Wander around until I pick up the trail, hope that it's the correct trail, and continue on in the storm (hopefully in the right direction) or 2) set up the tent and crawl into it soaking wet and try to "sleep".

My original "plan" was to hike through the night and avoid camping altogether, but the thought of hiking the entire night in the wrong direction (and then having to back-track) was unappealing. I set up the tent.

Without a vestibule on this tent, cooking was out of the question. And since all food needs to hang outside the tent (in a tree) overnight (unless you want to be a snack for a bear), eating at all was out of the question unless I wanted to exit the tent (after eating) back into the storm, return to the tent and start the drying process all over again.

The following morning, some nine hours later, the rain and wind finally stop. I take the opportunity to fully appreciate the difference between tents that are "water proof" and those (like my tent) that are merely "highly water resistant"; getting misted all night will impress upon you that distinction.

Breakfast that morning was the ramen noodles I longed for the previous night. Delicious. I decided that spending another night in a "highly water resistant" tent (and a slightly damp sleeping bag) for Act II of the storm was a poor choice, so I pulled on my wet clothes and trekked (slosh, slosh, slosh, go my feet) back to the car.

Maybe next weekend.

National Security, Protection of Life & Property ... and the IRS

2011-04-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

News to me, but there's an impending budgeting problem that may result in the federal government mostly shutting down on Friday night. I know. You're sad like I am.

The article, in speaking specifically about government web sites, indicates that, of course, not everything will shut down. Services related to national security and the protection of life and property will continue to operate. Oh, and the IRS, because, "we need to be able to collect the money that is owed to the U.S. government."

You know, it'd be a huge step in the right direction if they simply left it like that.

Did you ever see that Simpson's episode where Burns decides to fire people who think they're non-essential? It's brilliant really. I can't find it with Google, so I'll have to index all of them with Get and see what I can find.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-04-04T19:33:00.003-04:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 34.12309, -84.26245
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - Alpharetta, Georgia
  Location: -84.26258, 34.12298
  Distance: 0.01 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Satellite based texting ftw.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-04-04T19:33:00.001-04:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 34.12309, -84.26245
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - Alpharetta, Georgia
  Location: -84.26258, 34.12298
  Distance: 0.01 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Message: Satellite based texting ftw.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-03-31T18:46:00.001-04:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 34.12307, -84.26236
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - Alpharetta, Georgia
  Location: -84.26258, 34.12298
  Distance: 0.01 miles

Message: This is a test of the emergency

Spot Connect

2011-03-28T11:37:00.000-04:00

The Spot Connect was originally supposed to become available in January. That badge on their web site, sometime in February, was changed to, "Coming Soon", and recently that badge disappeared entirely - yet no one seemed to have the elusive device in stock.

Anyway, West Marine came to the rescue, and I should have my very own Spot Connect shortly - and finally, satellite-based text messaging will be mine!

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-03-24T15:38:00.001-04:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 33.6403, -84.4393
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Atlanta Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  Location: -84.42806, 33.63667
  Distance: 0.69 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

Pool!

2011-03-23T17:48:00.000-04:00

The neighborhood pool is uncovered, some filtration system is cycling the water, and a guy "doing stuff" around the deck. The pool will soon be open ... and I'll be in Alaska, nowhere near it. Figures.

Props to this neighborhood for opening the pool based on the weather and not on the budget.

Alaska Front Range

2011-03-22T03:49:00.000-04:00

An image from the Alaska front range while flying back to Talkeetna (from Kahiltna Base Camp) in 2009.

Fasten Your Hamster's Mask First

2011-03-18T13:47:00.000-04:00

The unnecessary safety video preceding every flight I'm on cautions me:

Remember to fasten your own mask before helping others.

Why? I can't imagine a scenario in which the person you're inclined to help is more capable than you in terms of dealing with sudden low pressure.

Succumbing to boredom I glanced at the printed list of exit row passenger exclusions. Number 11 is my favorite:

Traveling with an emotional support animal, service animal or family pet.

First, I applaud their non-use of the terminal comma there, but what exactly is an emotional support animal? Can I travel with a hamster if I can get a doctor to sign off on my emotional need of its companionship? I wonder if they'd let him ride in my shirt pocket. If I were taking a hamster on a plane I'd definitely wear a shirt with a pocket.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-03-18T05:34:00.001-04:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 33.6403, -84.4393
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Atlanta Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  Location: -84.42806, 33.63667
  Distance: 0.69 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-03-09T22:31:00.003-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 38.01973, -107.67368
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Ouray, Colorado, USA
  Location: -107.67222, 38.02333
  Distance: 0.26 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-03-09T22:31:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 38.01973, -107.67368
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Ouray, Colorado, USA
  Location: -107.67222, 38.02333
  Distance: 0.26 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

A Camera Built for Abuse

2011-03-03T01:02:00.000-05:00

I've had bulky cameras that took beautiful pictures and tiny cameras that took crappy pictures; and I've learned that if the camera is so inconvenient to lug around that you don't bother bringing it, then you end up with no pictures. Finding the balance is tricky. On top of that, I usually punish the cameras with dirt, rocks, sand, ice, freezing temperatures, etc.

With that in mind, I think I've found the camera that I'll lug up Foraker; it is the terribly name Optio WG-1 by Pentax.

The optical zoom isn't the greatest (5x); nor is the price ($399). But from the looks of it, it won't be too traumatized by the expedition. It's water proof. And it has a built-in gps, which'll so great when when it comes to trying to figure out where exactly I was when I took that 300th picture of snow.

Pentax has this other new camera that has built-in HDR support, which would be really great ... but it looks really fragile. And I don't think it has a GPS either.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-02-24T20:12:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 34.12302, -84.26221
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - Alpharetta, Georgia
  Location: -84.26258, 34.12298
  Distance: 0.02 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

All Done with the Ice Climbing

2011-02-23T16:54:00.001-05:00

We are finally done with ice climbing. Three days if it. Well, today was more of a half day. It's just exhausting after a while.

Ouray Ice Park is amazing, although I understand there's little point in showing up on a weekend unless you get out the door super early and are content to hang out at the one climb all day. Weekdays on the other hand - we basically had the place to ourselves.

I took tons of helmet cam footage, but it's not entirely exciting stuff. It'll need a lot of editing before it'll be worth sharing.

Shuttle ride back to Grand Junction picks us up at 3am. That's gonna suck.

Im coming back here as soon as possible ... after my arms rest.

--

As you might expect in an ice park, all of the climbs were very kicked in. If you try not to think about it too much, your ego really gets a boost from completing so many climbs successfully.

South Park

It takes bloody forever to get to South Park, and a month ago, I was told, the ground was all melted out making it impossible to belay from below. It was nicely frozen over this week however. We climbed: Trapper Keeper (WI4), Cartmanland (WI4) and Asspen (WI4).

New Funtier

While not as far of a trek as South Park, New Funtier still takes a short while to get to. We climbed: Captain Goddamnit (WI3) and Miller Lite (WI4).

Schoolroom

A relatively short trek, these climbs are mostly anchored from metal scaffolding that extends the width of the width of Schoolroom. Traversing the metal stair case is quite possibly one of the least fun things I've ever done. The ice descends all the way to the ground, making instruction very convenient. We climbed: Teacher's Pet (WI3), Reading (WI4) and Riting (WI4).

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-02-20T18:34:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 38.01678, -107.67496
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Ouray, Colorado, USA
  Location: -107.67222, 38.02333
  Distance: 0.48 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-02-20T15:31:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 39.1225, -108.52972
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Grand Junction Airport, Colorado, USA
  Location: -108.52667, 39.12250
  Distance: 0.16 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-02-20T12:59:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 40.7869, -111.98318
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Salt Lake City Airport, Utah, USA
  Location: -111.97778, 40.78833
  Distance: 0.30 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.02 miles

I Need YOU to Vote

2011-02-19T18:46:00.003-05:00

Every Denali expedition must have a team name. Your voting choices are:

Team Snow Bawls
Yellow Snow Brigade

Please lock in your vote now.

--

Update: Polls are closed. Big Test Icicles will be climbing Foraker in May.

Expedition Team Name

2011-02-18T19:16:00.000-05:00

Every expedition to Denali National Park requires a team name; even if you're solo. And if I were solo'ing, I think I'd go with the team name "Me". It's almost worth going there solo if only to use that team name. Anyway.... I won't be solo'ing; I'll be climbing Mt. Foraker with Wes.

Calling on the assistance of a 5th grade class, some 500-ish team name suggestions have been whittled down to a few lucky contestants. In no particular order, they are:

  Team 1
  Yo Yo Yiggity Yo
  I Hate Snow
  What Do You Mean This Isn’t McKinley?
  Team Snow Cone
  Team Yellow Snow
  Yellow Snow Brigade
  Team Loners
  Team Awesome
  Cold Fusion
  Team Snow Balls
  Team Avalanche
  Team Rawr
  Snow Freaks

If you have any suggestions of your own, please contribute.

H

2011-02-17T11:53:00.001-05:00

Ah ... "I understand"
Eh ... "I don't care"
Oh ... "Interesting"
Uh ... "I don't get it"

This morning, while I was trying to sleep later than my body apparently wanted to, this is what occurred to me.

Alaska III

2011-02-16T16:20:00.001-05:00

It's a go. May 8th we're leaving for Alaska and by the 10th we should have our feet firmly planted on the Kahiltna Glacier. A couple weeks later (or a few weeks, if the weather sucks), we'll be standing on the top of Mt. Foraker.

The super cool part is that even though we fly to the same location as all of the Denali climbers, after descending Heartbreak Hill, we turn left while everyone else turns right. The path less chosen.

According to the Denali National Park 2010 climber statistics, only nine people attempted Foraker last year, and only six of them climbed the (relatively mundane) Sultana Ridge route. Given a near three month climbing window, there's a very real chance we won't have to share the mountain with anyone.

Now I'm wondering:

1. Can I get away with a -15 (F) down sleeping bag instead of the -40's I've used in years past? Since I'm also toting a down parka and down puffy pants, it seems like I should be able to make up the difference.

2. I need to get a durable, high-gain antenna so that we can talk to base camp / 14k camp and receive the daily weather reports.

3. When is the Spot Connect going to come out, so that I can start testing satellite text messaging?

4. Once again, I need a book. I took "We the Living" (Ayn Rand) last time. It was awesome. And way too short. Something in the 500-page range would be ideal, I think.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-02-05T07:57:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 34.74, -83.9375
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Watson Gap - Cohutta Wilderness
  Location: -84.51495, 34.90737
  Distance: 34.79 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

Ouray

2011-02-04T23:41:00.000-05:00

I ordered another 70m Mammut 8.9mm Serenity rope. It's an awesome rope. Light weight. Long. Strong (I've fallen on it many times). And in New Hampshire and I had the dumb luck to crampon straight through it so now I've come into possession of two somewhat shorter 8.9mm ropes.

Aimee is going to require her own pair of boots, and Whittaker Mountaineering was selling off their used rental equipment and I picked up a pair of Scarpa Omegas for 1/3rd the usual retail price. Awesome deal considering the only reason I didn't end up with a pair of Invernos for her was that I neglected to click the final "confirm order" button last time around. Dumb luck?

I learned earlier today that Ouray, CO was Ayn Rand's inspiration for "Galt's Gulch" in Altas Shrugged. If you've read the book then a picture makes the inspiration obvious.

My new work inspiration is a seasonal abode in Ouray. One day....

Aimee and I will be out there in a couple of weeks to explore the Ouray Ice Park. You can fly into any of the near-by regional airports and get a van ride to your hotel. The ice park is walking distance from any of the Ouray hotels. Short of adding slides accessible from your up-stairs hotel room windows, this couldn't be any more convenient.

Your Rights vs My Rights

2011-02-03T14:32:00.000-05:00

Shocking to some, you do not have the right to hurt others; unless you're a cop, of course, and then mindless barbarism seems to be part of the job description. But, back to the topic at hand.

In a recent vote that I would have immediately disregarded had this been April 1st, The New York City Council appears to have banned (or will ban?) smoking in certain public places.

The news article quotes one smoker as saying, "We’re outside. We should have freedom to smoke." And without considering one's surroundings, sure, you do. If you're in the middle of a desert, or a forrest, or the ocean, or solely surrounded by other smokers, then go for it. However, the moment your choice of activities harms others, you no longer have that freedom. Nor should you.

Even worse though: the article begins by suggesting that such a smoking ban brings New York closer to the realm of a "Nanny State". Prohibiting people from, say, aimlessly swinging knives around ("because you might harm others") is not nanny state material; nor is a ban that prohibits you from accosting others with an addiction that's held over from your days in middle school when you were trying to fit in.

Let's look at a more fundamental issue though: should there be a law banning smoking? Should there even need to be a law? If you were still clinging to a disgusting, unhealthy habit, but you managed not to afflict others, would law makers feel any compulsion to limit your rights? Said another way: if you exhibited self control, would it be necessary for this Council to tell you how to behave?

Go smoke. Just don't do it around people who care to live long enough to see their grandkids.

Juxtaposition

2011-02-01T20:22:00.002-05:00

The point is, I don't know how to smile and I never did, but at least I know that now. Yes, that's my happy face.

Another juxtaposition: those are $550 boots from La Sportiva and $10 gloves from Home Depot.

Life in New York

2011-02-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

This is without a doubt the single greatest description of life in New York that I've had the pleasure to read recently. 15 Minute Lunch.

The author was blessed to miss out on both a poopy train ride experience as well as garbage day with its mountains of odorous bags piled up beside the street.

I am definitely not a city person. It's just not for me. You can talk to me about "culture" until you expel the last of the smog-tainted air from your lungs, ..."

Read it.

New Hampshire Ice Climbing

2011-01-31T18:46:00.005-05:00

Got some ice climbing pictures for you here.

From the first bit of warm-up climbing we did ... Auburn Ice Canyon. The approach sucks a bit - easily a fifteen minute walk (on packed snow), and we never would have found it without the existing tracks to follow.

Sufficiently warmed up from the 1st day, we spent the 2nd day climbing Cinema Gully (which isn't really a gully at all). It was a little too easy to be satisfying and we ended up spending just as long (or longer?) trying to figure out how to get back down. We're terrible with directions.

Also, I crampon'ed the rope on the 3rd pitch (of four) which made our eventual rappel off the mountain a little uncertain since we weren't sure if the rope (in it's new configuration) would reach the bottom. Alas, it did. But now I need to buy a new 70m rope.

Finally, we spent the 3rd day in a gully (that was actually a gully) near Cinema Gully (which, again, is not really a gully), working on more gratifying climbs. The wind and snow were pretty incessant, but the up-side was that the ice wasn't all wet.

Corey was climbing. Brett was belaying. I was standing near-by, waiting for my turn. Then Brett yells "ice!" right as the pain in my shoulder makes itself known. The culprit, a block of ice no more than five pounds in weight didn't look all that threatening as it laid dormant at my feet, but it managed to leave a mark, even with a base layer shirt, two heavy shirts, one light-weight down jacket and one heavy-weight down jacket (yes, I was wearing my jacket and Corey's jacket - it was cold) between it and my shoulder. Overall it was inconsequential compared to the rock incident on Liberty Ridge. This ice to the shoulder and a bloody chin from the first day - overall it was a very calm trip.

Ouray next?

Oh, and I'd like to thank Delta for upgrading me both ways. Apparently these mid-day Atlanta-Boston flights aren't too popular since I managed to score both upgrades.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-01-31T12:54:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 33.6409, -84.44724
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  Location: -84.42000, 33.65000
  Distance: 1.69 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-01-30T12:49:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 44.20947, -71.40622
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Cinema Gully - Crawford Notch State Park, New Hampshire, USA
  Location: -71.41300, 44.20380
  Distance: 0.52 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-01-29T15:01:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 44.20296, -71.41031
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Cinema Gully - Crawford Notch State Park, New Hampshire, USA
  Location: -71.41300, 44.20380
  Distance: 0.15 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-01-28T12:07:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 42.2128, -71.81317
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
  Location: -71.87000, 42.27000
  Distance: 4.91 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-01-27T15:04:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 42.36504, -71.02118
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  Location: -71.03000, 42.37000
  Distance: 0.57 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

Frisbee Thieving Microsoft-ee & Mount-freakin'-Foraker

2011-01-27T01:00:00.004-05:00

I'm amazed at how the amount of gear necessary for a 4-day ice climbing trip to New Hampshire isn't substantially different from the amount of gear necessary for a month-long mountain climbing trip to Alaska. A larger pack. More food. More fuel.

Below, a pic from my house, earlier today (terrible lighting, I know...):

and from a couple years ago, in New York, shortly before my first Alaska trip:

I brought a frisbee to Alaska in 2008, and I'm bringing a frisbee on this climb, too. Last time, some retired dude from Microsoft stole my frisbee from my cached belongings while I was summitting. They were casually flinging it back and forth as we descended from the summit. I should have invited him on a long walk into a remote area of the camp, but I was too exhausted. No one is going to steal my frisbee this time....

Seriously ... who thinks it is possibly a good idea to steal a frisbee from an exhausted person wielding ice axes? And a saw.

--

My new Black Diamind Hilight tent arrived yesterday, and I remembered that it had to be seam-sealed before use. In warm weather this is something that one can wait on over one or two days.

It's not warm here. I moved the tent to the garage since ventilation is more important than warmth (in some respect) and ran the silicon gel over all of the external seams; and then I moved the tent into the house this morning. I guess after four days in the snow, starting tomorrow, I'll know whether my amateur seam-sealing was sufficient.

--

I've thus far only had the opportunity to spy on Mt. Foraker from Denali, but this Spring it looks like Wes, Dan and I will have the opportunity to tame it. Or, at the very least, just survive it.

Foraker is the beast that sits adjacent to Denali and sees little more than 5% as many visitors annually. If nothing else I can look forward to far fewer lines on the headwall.

Hippy

2011-01-24T19:58:00.000-05:00

My father (on the right) and Steve Jobs (on the left). Too bad they didn't hang out more.

New Hampshire

2011-01-23T23:55:00.000-05:00

Leaving for Boston (and then New Hampshire) on Thursday. Based on avy hazard from snow that's expected on Wednesday, we'll hit up some (or all?) of the following. Most of them are relatively easy, which is good since I've been out of practice since June. Can't wait....

Shoestring Gully

Garmin Blows

2011-01-23T17:33:00.006-05:00

I hope one day my primary motivation for blogging isn't the need to blow off steam in the form of a rant; but Garmin is simply infuriating and I can't help it.

Do you know why Garmin is doing terribly financially? Because it's a pain in the ass to give them your money. And at the time of this writing I still haven't entirely succeeded. Well, I did finally manage to give them my $99, but I haven't been able to actually download my new maps. More on that in a bit.

I've bought, owned and loved a half dozen devices from Garmin but until this afternoon I've never attempted to purchase and download maps from them. It is quite simply the worst purchasing experience imaginable. That's not true: prior to this experience I couldn't have imagined a purchasing experience this terrible. Cisco and HP might be able to compete, but that's it. They've certainly expanded my horizons. There's a reason Amazon touts (and patents!) one-click shopping. It's really that simple. You want the product on your door-step the following day? Click once and get on with your life. Tomorrow, without fail, your local UPS delivery guy will, with care that Ace Ventura didn't demonstrate, gently place your new toys on your front door and scurry off back to his big, brown truck.

This story begins as I browse the long list of map products available from Garmin. I've found the US 24k Topo maps of the Northeast and clicked the "Download" link (instead of the SD card link). Both links wind up at the same place, naturally: a page where I can choose either to "Download" or "purchase an SD card". Great. Failure #1.

I confirm that I want to download, which just adds it to my shopping cart. Okay. We're getting somewhere, I think.

Click on the shopping cart. Confirm I've got what I want. Checkout time. I need to create an account or login. Why? I just want to buy this. Whatever. I fill in the tedious form and it fails because my email address has already been used. Fine. Login. But what's my password? I don't know. "Forgot password." Wait for email. Copy and paste my new password from the email. I'm logged in and, surprise, surprise, my map is still in my shopping cart. Amazing. Checkout, again.

Now they need a Garmin device registered. And they need a serial number. I unplug my Garmin from the computer, take out the AA batteries and type in the serial number. Error: you need to install the communicator plugin. Fine.

Download the plugin. Run the installer. Restart my browser - thanks - I didn't have those dozen tabs open for any particular reason. What was I doing again? Oh yeah, buying maps, that's right. "No supported devices found." Well, that's because it's sitting on my desk and it's turned off because you needed the serial number. Pop the batteries back in, plug it back into the computer. "Try again." ... "Device found." Register. Confirm. Name. Email address. Done.

"Your device has new software available for it. Download now?" Sure. Wait. Wait. Wait. Unplug device. Restart device. Turn off device. Plug in device. Click "Done."

Now what? Where are my maps? Ah. The purchasing process was interrupted and cancelled it seems. And this Garmin Dashboard site doesn't seem to sell maps.

Back to garmin.com and we start all over. Search for my map again. Found it. "Download." ... "Download." ... "Shopping cart." ... "Checkout." ... "Enter device serial number." ... What? I just registered it!!!!!!!!! Uggh. Unplug Garmin. Take out batteries. Type in the serial number. BUT this time I'm smart and I plug the Garmin back in before clicking continue. "Use this device?" YES.

"Computer ready for download." Check. "Device found." Great. "You don't have enough free space on the Garmin for this 1,600MB download." I know this. That's why I have a 4GB sd card installed.

And now I have my choice of two randomly named devices (D? c?) that have no bearing on the actual devices connected to my computer - and we have conveniently ignored the SEVENTEEN+ TERABYTES of disk space this IS attached to my computer. Furthermore, it doesn't bother to show the sd card, which is mounted, that has plenty of available space intended just for this purpose.

Now what?

One of the options indicates approximately 10GBs of free space. My iDisk has approximately 10GB of free space, so maybe that's what the third option is? Fine. I'll use that. "Continue."

I'm not going to blindly over-write some file with an unknown name on an unknown disk. Seriously? Can you tell me less about what you want me to give you permission to do? Maybe by "save somewhere else" it'll give me the option to browse my computer and select a download location? Like, say, the default download folder for my web browser? "Okay."

Certainly don't give me the option to choose a different file name. "Don't replace." And we're back to step one again.

Oh well. Throw caution to the wind and "replace file with same name". I wonder what file it's over-writing...?

--

40 minutes later.... Yes, it did download to my iDisk. And no, there was no file there by the same name. And why would it allow me to download to my iDisk and not the attached hard disks? Whatever.

So now what?

I must now have at least three Garmin apps (BaseCamp, MapInstall, MapManager) and one Garmin browser plug-in (Communicator - not to be mistaken for the Netscape browser by the same name) installed. I can't think of a single other product experience that was quite so involved ... and I've compiled C-like code to install via a terrible Java IDE onto a prototyping board before. That was far, far easier.

An hour of "installing ... please wait" later, and it seems to have worked. How can this be anything more than a three minute drag-and-drop process and gotten by even the most minimally competent QA team?

--

And Delta just emailed me to let me know that my flight to Boston on Thursday has been upgraded. For an otherwise stressful evening, that's exactly the right way to end it.

I wonder if Magellan has improved their GPSs at all in recent years.

Talkative Little Peripherals

2011-01-20T16:38:00.002-05:00

I installed Cacti last week. Cacti graphs, among other things, transfer statistics from SNMP-capable devices such as my Apple Airport Extreme router.

These graphs that Cacti makes show me wifi use as well as my total internet use. Generally this is more vaguely interesting than useful. Generally.

So, riddle me this. From 6pm to 7am every day, wireless traffic holds steady at 60k/sec. The only other wifi device that's consistently available is the Apple Airport Express (which is an unlikely culprit), and if the router is at fault, it isn't necessarily talking to any other device; it could just be sending data nowhere. Still ... I'd like to know. And 6pm is right around the corner.

Multiplication Table Drills

2011-01-17T19:57:00.002-05:00

Alright, there. As far as I'm concerned it is stable and sufficiently functional to be usable. You can have multiple users. A different problem set size can be configured for each user. A checkmark indicates whether the user has completed a set for today. And annoying sounds pester you when you screw up; and congratulate you when you finish a set.

It's pretty cool.

If anything needs work, it's the algorithm for choosing problems. I think it needs to be weighted more to be less concerned with older problems with high levels of accuracy. I'll get to that later.

Oh, I also need to find someone to make some icons; and I need to find some public domain sound effects. Everything I'm using now is probably not safe for distribution.

As you can see, I'm the only one who did my problem set for today. Also, if it weren't for Aimee, our names would sort alphabetically while also sorted by age.

Update: and now complete with some per-day stats.

Multiplication Table Drills

2011-01-17T05:50:00.001-05:00

My father worked some voodoo magic with a spreadsheet back when Excel fit entirely on a single-side floppy and concocted a multiplication table drill program that he inflicted upon us every evening after school.

Of course it wasn't too much later that I actually appreciated the benefits of having most everything under 20x20 memorized.

This evening, after years of pondering and procrastination, I whipped up a simple Cocoa app to once again be inflicted on me. The interface is crude but everything works. If I actually expend the effort to make it look nice and work well, I wonder how many kids might themselves learn to loathe this app. Brings a smile to my face.

Maybe it's just the part of my brain associated with visual design that is retarded, but I haven't had any epiphanies regarding how to make a multiplication drill program look good. I guess I'll come up with something eventually....

47% = ~500

2011-01-12T12:41:00.004-05:00

So, this may come as a surprise to you; and in fact it *should* come as a surprise to you: MySpace still exists (in some form). I learned of its continued existence when it was announced that MySpace was going to lay off some 47% of its staff. At first I wondered, "are they laying off a fractional person, because how do you lay off 47% of three people?" and then the announcement continued, "...about 500 employees." How does such an irrelevant entity need more than a thousand employees? What do they do all day? Surf Facebook?

--

I may have only known of the USPS's creed from watching Seinfeld, but I assumed there was some legitimacy to it. Here it is:

And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever.

Except for Monday. And Tuesday. And probably today, too.

Read it or watch it:

George: Shouldn't you be at work by now?
Newman: Work? It's raining!
George: So?
Newman: I called in sick. I don't work in the rain!
George: You don't work in the rain? You're a mailman! "Neither rain nor sleet nor..." It's the first one!
Newman: I was never that big on creeds.

Let it Snow!

2011-01-09T23:48:00.002-05:00

I woke up from my nap around 9pm and complete disappointment awaited me when I opened my front door to green grass and black roads. Two and a half hours later though and it's all better.

But this had better not be the end of it. Weather.com promised me 3 - 5 inches of snow and this isn't even 1 inch. Still, it's a good start and the night is young.

Update: You see? This is what happens in Atlanta when it snows. Insurance companies go bankrupt.

Black Diamond Cyborg

2011-01-07T17:39:00.001-05:00

The new crampons finally arrived. I've never used these pro-style crampons with the metal strap in front instead of the plastic clip, but it seems secure enough. The metal strap is kind of sharp though so I'm sending them back if it starts tearing up the front of my precious Baturas.

My Grivels have a snow release device that's supposed to stop snow from accumulating; but I never took the time to verify that it actually worked. Either way, these Black Diamonds aren't sold with glacier travel in mind.

I'll get a chance to break them in on the 27th in New Hampshire but I think I'll lug the Grivels along for the ride just in case. They haven't let me down yet.

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2011-01-06T19:54:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 34.12302, -84.26233
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - Alpharetta, Georgia
  Location: -84.26258, 34.12298
  Distance: 0.01 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.01 miles

I clean ALL the things!!

2011-01-06T16:32:00.000-05:00

Hyperbole and a Half is frequently awesome and it is also my inspiration for, I run ALL the OSes!! Check it:

I tried to get Haiku running, but I had no luck. Supposedly it'll run under VMWare.

FedEx = Awesome

2011-01-03T16:33:00.000-05:00

While in Missouri my productivity tanked when my laptop suddenly decided that it would only function up-side-down (while on battery power); an inconvenient arrangement to say the least. More than one person helpfully suggested that I could place the keyboard on my feet while lying on my back....

I was not surprised when, after pressing lots of keys at the direction of the Apple Support guy, nothing changed. During the course of the phone call we were able to determine conclusively that a software issue was not at fault for a loose power connection.

I handed my three-week-old laptop over to an Apple Genius upon returning home who indicated that it would be shipped off to "the depot" for diagnosis and treatment. No indication was given regarding the duration but The Genius did indicate that they'd be happy to ship the laptop directly to my home when its recovery was complete. Given the unrelenting and difficult-to-navigate crowds at the Apple Store, this was great news.

I returned from a bike ride this afternoon to find a FedEx missed-delivery tag on my door. According to Sleep Cycle, I was in the midst of deep sleep at the time of the first delivery attempt. The FedEx operator indicated that it was too late in the day to re-deliver, but that I could wait until 8pm and pick it up myself. Fine. A few minutes later the door bell rings and the FedEx guy is standing there with my laptop. My hero. Apparently he coincidentally decided to re-attempt delivery.

FedEx = Awesome.

Posh

2010-12-29T19:31:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting in the Memphis Delta Sky Club this evening, enjoying cheese, crackers and wine while waiting for my delayed connecting flight to Atlanta. There aren't very many circumstances in which an unplanned over-night stay is a bonus, but this might be one of them. Well, only if the Sky Club stays open over-night.

Oh, regarding posh: the first thing I noticed upon entering is that the office area (for people who want to work and not have to listen to people gabbing on cell phones and tv's blaring pointless news) is stocked with Aeron chairs. Good for them.

New Stuff

2010-12-23T00:05:00.001-05:00

Collectively, two UPS guys and two FedEx guys (one driving a Budget rent-a-van...) delivered packages containing a fifty foot static rope, a new climbing helmet, the most comfortable harness I've ever used (and it's really quick to cinch up) and some new base layer clothing. I dusted off the ice tools and I've been swinging them around house the past few days. Now I really just need something to climb. Oh Georgia, where art though ice climbing?

--

Holy crap. There *is* ice climbing in Georgia. Now I just need to find someone to go with and wait for an updated ice conditions report.

It's Safe to Look at the Moon

2010-12-20T02:04:00.000-05:00

From the article regarding the up-coming lunar eclipse: Unlike a solar eclipse, it is safe to look at a lunar eclipse -- which is when the moon passes through the earth's shadow as cast by the sun. During the total phase, the moon appears to have a dark reddish cast.

So, now you know. It's safe to look at the moon.

I'm wondering where the best (local) place is to observe this event. I could double up the moon watching with a camping trip and watch from the top of some North Georgia mountain. Hmm.

Funny Food

2010-12-17T16:23:00.002-05:00

So these two cannibals are eating a clown, and one pauses and says "does this taste funny to you?"

14% Advanced

2010-12-16T21:00:00.001-05:00

You know it. curtisjones.us is 14% advanced according to Google. I'll take it.

It seems prudent not to leave this blog post with barely a multi-syllable word. Therefore I leave you with: filioque, amplitude, pure virtual and luciferous logolepsy.

--

My local liquor distributor had some bottled egg nog front-and-center on the checkout counter. I mentioned that the notion of manufactured, bottled egg nog (with no expiration date?) kind of disturbed me. He said that each year he is unable to buy enough of it to satisfy demand; that he could sell ten cases of it if he could actually get that much. Seriously gross. Who _buys_ egg nog anyway? Nasty.

Maybe it's just a dairy thing with me, but pre-processed dairy "stuff" is always suspicious - be it cheese or milk or whatever. You don't want to see mold, you don't want to feel chunks and you certainly don't want a product that doesn't require an expiration date. Uggh.

It was December 24th on Hollis Ave in the dark...

2010-12-15T22:21:00.003-05:00

"This iiiiiisssss Christmas music!"

Run DMC, FTW.

Alaska (Part III)

2010-12-07T03:47:00.000-05:00

Things are looking up. After a two year hiatus from Alaska, it looks like I'll get to go back in May. Maybe. We're looking at either another West Buttress trip, West Rib or Foraker. Prior to that trip, probably a few days (or more) ice climbing so that we aren't completely unprepared when the time comes. And I'm going to have to get used to the idea of lead climbing. Scares the crap out of me right now.

Leaky

2010-12-04T17:43:00.000-05:00

Some moronic retailer leaked my AmEx credit card number (which I've had for years, and have had memorized for years) into the ether and some no doubt homely teenager used the card for purchases from Microsoft and Blizzard. American Express - always vigilant - sent me a fraud alert text message, and two minutes later I had my card deactivated and the new card should arrive in forty-eight hours. Whatever retailer is responsible for leaking this number ... you're off my Christmas card list. Also, I hope you have to file for Chapter 7, and the IRS audits you, and the Taliban targets you, and Microsoft steals IP from you, and SCO's attorneys infiltrate you, and 4chan turns their collective eye towards you.

Sounds like crap

2010-11-29T07:34:00.003-05:00

It sounds terrible, but it is recognizable. I (temporarily) gave up on the time-domain filtering and decided to go the route of:

  FFT the data to the frequency-domain
  zero out everything except for the selected range
  shift the selected range down to (near) zero hz
  FFT the data back to the time domain
  push the samples to core audio

So, yeah, it sounds like crap, but it is, unequivocally, success.

I'm going to sleep.

Update:My progress that night went something like this:

4am: I've been working for hours and I have Core Audio hooked up and playing noise, but the noise doesn't seem to have any relationship to what I'm seeing on the graph. It's late. I'm going to sleep.

A mere step from bed and it hits me: I'm ranging the samples between -32767..32768 and I bet that's actually supposed to be 0..32768. Back down stairs to investigate.

5am: Sure enough. Fixed that. And some other bugs. Still getting noise but it does now have a relationship with what I'm seeing, even if it remains unintelligible. It's late. I'm going to sleep.

A mere step from bed and it hits me: I'm not decimating the signal down to a reasonable frequency before inverse FFT'ing the data and feeding it to core audio.

6am: Decimated and playing AM radio! Of course, it sounds like crap because my filtering method can barely be described as a method. Still, I'm elated and I send out several emails to bore people with the details. Now it's just a matter of implementing a better filter. It's late. I'm going to sleep.

More Eye Candy

2010-11-27T09:17:00.000-05:00

Check it. The overview graph now has a highlighted section that indicates which portion of the 190 KHz is being viewed in the bottom two graphs, and you can drag the highlighted area around as one would expect.

And I ditched the extra device control window and built it into the graph window as a sheet. It's much better this way.

A bit of good news: my previous concerns about frequency calibration turned out to be calculation errors on my part, so, if you set a center frequency of 750 KHz, you'll find WSB sitting dead center. Again, that's good. But if you wander out to the edges of the graph, the frequency labels start drifting. Hopefully it's a rounding error.

Also, you can right-click in the green-hilighted area to trigger the demodulator, but that remains unimplemented. I'll figure it out eventually. Until then, at least the UI is coming along nicely.

Frequency Range Selection & Overview

2010-11-26T02:45:00.000-05:00

Since I started zero-padding out the fft, the entire 190KHz span can't be viewed at 100% zoom, so I added this very short planar graph at the top which shows the entire span, while the two larger graphs showed a zoomed-in portion of the whole. I need to add a window highlight thing to the overview that shows what section of it the larger graphs are displaying. But it's 3am and I don't want to right now. As a temporary solution, you can arrow-key left/right through the fft.

I added support for option+dragging over a frequency range to highlight it - in anticipation of being able to right-click -> demodulate later on. Some nift-ily rotated text shows the low and high frequency of the selected range.

That's all for now.

2010-11-22T10:47:00.000-05:00

I successfully tore out the old ftdx usb driver from Static and implanted libftdi which works completely differently, of course.

I spent all day Saturday racking my brain trying to figure out how to manipulate the quadrature data to make it suitable input for the Chebyshev IIR filter (without success). One reference seems to indicate that the frequency parameter to the filter is the percentage of the sampling frequency at which you want the cutoff. But. Hmm. It seems to make sense now that I'm talking about it.

Anyway, I tossed in partial Core Audio support. The rest of the app works on pushing data to modules while Core Audio works (at least in one mode) by requesting data from the app. And this data is sampled at 196KHz and I'm going to need to down-sample that to 44.1KHz before I play it, I suspect.

I learned something new about FFT's the other day: zero-pad the input data to increase the resolution. It looks sort of like zooming in. And jumping from 4k points to 16k points didn't noticeably affect performance (ooura ftw).

Here's an interesting looking AM signal (on the right).

What is it?

2010-11-17T20:47:00.003-05:00

Centered around 146.575MHz is this crazy signal. Sadly, my HT can't distinguish the signal beyond noise, while the big antenna is only connected to a program that can't demodulate (as of yet). So I'm left to wonder. It sure looks interesting though.

I've got all-day meetings going on in the office tomorrow, so I'm hopeful to be able to speak with someone who might be able to give me some filtering and demodulation tips that'll set me on the right path.

Until then I can only provide you with pretty pictures.

--

Update: I've let the program run for a while now and that signal is modulating across 50KHz. That's crazy big for a ham band.

Sexism

2010-11-13T20:16:00.001-05:00

I feel like I should be offended whenever I go into William Sonoma (or the like) and during checkout face the inevitable inquiry, "Is this a gift?"

--

I've got a london broil, onion, garlic, rice and a healthy dose of wine stuffed into a shiny new pressure cooker, and I'm wondering how many times I'll have to use this contraption before I'll no longer fear some sort of explosion. Pressure mixed with heat scares me.

Friday Nights

2010-11-12T20:14:00.001-05:00

The champagne and orange juice, the beautiful weather, nine inch nails and adding support for a 3rd party usb driver to Static. True relaxation.

SDR Goodness

2010-11-12T11:37:00.002-05:00

So I finally noticed these crazy little 9V DC input pins on the 144-148MHZ down converter. Apparently it needs to be "plugged in". So I deftly wired up a 9V battery to it.

Then there was the matter of the antenna, and the fact that my only antenna was for HF. A quick trip to HRO and, well, nothing says "class" like a ten foot antenna mounted in the family room. Diamond says it's good for up to 112MPH winds.

Finally, connect them altogether, fire up Static, and presto ... I can talk into the HT and see it on the computer.

Now I just need to get around to filtering, demodulating and playing the signal.

Incompatible

2010-11-11T01:44:00.001-05:00

Eating dinner and drinking wine is not compatible with watching Dirty Jobs. That's not to say that I stopped drinking the wine; but I did stop eating dinner.

And speaking of wine.... My liquor store recently started peddling a simple selection of Malbecs, Merlots, Cabernets and Pinot Noirs (actually, those should all be in the singular; I did say simple...) for $3.99 - $4.99. My ability to financially cope with stress just improved substantially.

Imagine: a case of palatable wine for $48.

The Call Into the Wild: The Story of a Retarded Dog

2010-11-10T23:09:00.007-05:00

I plowed through The Call of the Wild [1] this evening (while waiting for 10.6.5 to download at Starbucks) - a story of a beast both spirited and ferocious (not to be mistaken with Into the Wild, the story of a retarded boy) - and I found that London's clarity of writing made reading a simple, mesmerizing joy instead of a chore requiring note-taking.

If there's one thing to take notice of in this book it's that there's no dialog, save a handful of succinct exclamations and conversations.

Also, I want to go back to Alaska.

Also, Indians suck.

[1] Easton Press Books - world's best books; world's 2nd worst web site.

SQLite

2010-11-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

To make the command line sqlite3 program useful, alias it like this:

alias sqlite='sqlite3 -header -column'

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2010-11-07T13:21:00.003-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 40.70605, -73.99677
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - New York, New York, USA
  Location: 40.70864, -74.00647
  Distance: 0.67 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2010-11-07T13:21:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 40.76463, -73.97342
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: New York, New York, USA
  Location: 40.77000, -73.98000
  Distance: 0.47 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2010-11-06T15:26:00.001-04:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 40.70605, -73.99677
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: Home - New York, New York, USA
  Location: 40.70864, -74.00647
  Distance: 0.67 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.00 miles

FindMeSpot Locator Alert!

2010-11-06T10:44:00.001-04:00

Apparently we're still alive:

  Location: 40.76463, -73.97342
  Timestamp:
  Map: Google Maps

Closest point of interest:

  Description: New York, New York, USA
  Location: 40.77000, -73.98000
  Distance: 0.47 miles

Since last time:

Distance: 0.02 miles

Why won't my p...

2010-11-03T22:03:00.003-04:00

As suggested by reddit.

And squirrels

2010-11-02T18:54:00.002-04:00

I spent an hour+ driving to "the loop", and another half an hour ~~waiting for sunrise~~ reading about the application of genetic algorithms to StarCraft 2 game strategy - all the while contemplating which fantastic albums I was going to listen to while biking for the next three hours; only I didn't bring my iPod. Brilliant. But, as it turns out, it was kind of nice hearing the sounds around me; although it was mostly just a cold, deafening wind. And squirrels.

--

This was the first bike ride where I had a dog chase me. It's a good thing I left the Beretta at home (it's *so* much more effective than pepper spray, I imagine).

Countless stories of dog chases raced through my head. The collective wisdom was: 1) don't try to out-run the dog, and 2) don't try to kick at the dog while on the bike.

I managed to adhere to that wisdom, and while the dog freaked me out whenever it disappeared behind me (fearing that it'd chomp into my leg), it eventually tired of me, and my apparently ineffective yells to "go home!", and it left.

With more versatile shoes on it would have been an acceptable use of time to pin the dog down, read its collar, and escort it back home. Or just kick it. Whichever. But bike shoes are only good for tap dancing and clinging to pedals.

I'm going to try toting pepper spray (or something similar), since I'll be riding through there again soon enough.

Huh. Cool. There are ultra-sonic devices for the same purpose. I'm going shopping!