Hi everyone!

*leaves for another 3/4 years*

-Ian ;)

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Heh, that's kind of like "and all I got was this stupid t-shirt".

Post a reply to this message

Kyle wrote:
> Heh, that's kind of like "and all I got was this stupid t-shirt".

Indeed.  The main difference between "this stupid t-shirt" and "this 
stupid post" is that you can actually wear t-shirts and use them for 
something.  This alone makes them infinitely more useful than the post 
that started this fun thread.

If anything, the first post (and your reply, and my reply to your reply) 
does more harm than good.  Not only do they consume precious space on 
the POV-Ray news server's hard drive, but every time some fool so much 
as downloads the header, it wastes valuable bandwidth that could have 
been better spent discussing Haskell*.

-Ian

*Speaking of that, what on earth lead to p.o-t.h-v-c.f.f.f and 
p.o-t.f.h.b.b.b?! XD

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:05:23 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>Hi everyone!
>
>*leaves for another 3/4 years*
>
>-Ian ;)

Has it been that long?

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> Has it been that long?

I think so.

Last time I seem to remember coming here was when I was when I first 
started going to college, so probably early 2003 or 2004.  Then stuff 
happened, and stuff, and some more stuff, and now I'm here again!  Viva 
2008!

On a slightly o-t note, I love how this server retains ridiculously old 
messages in some sections.  I just saw a few messages from me (as "Ian") 
in p.newusers from 1998.  Yikes.  Nothing like a trip back to 7th grade.

-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:05:28 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>> Has it been that long?
>
>I think so.

How time flies. What have you been doing and are you really back?

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> How time flies.

Indeed!

 > What have you been doing and are you really back?

Well, in a nutshell, I dropped out of my local university after I 
realized that I only had one IT instructor that wasn't completely 
incompetent (way to have an accountant "teaching" C++, guys...I *love* 
having to play teacher when I'm the one paying to go there), I enrolled 
in a technical college, graduated, moved to Maryland with a friend of 
mine, couldn't find a job, partially moved back to Ohio (by that I mean 
I took little more than my laptop, some clothes, my PSP and DS, and my 
car with me), got a job with Nielsen Media Research as a field 
representative, and am now sitting in a hotel room in Florida, going to 
their field training school.

Throughout all of this, I somehow managed to become a bigger nerd than I 
ever was.

It's been interesting, that's for sure. :)

As for your second inquiry, yeah, I think I'm going to stick around for 
a while.  Maybe even get back into POV-Ray a bit (gasp).

-- 
-Ian

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On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:26:54 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>
> > What have you been doing and are you really back?
>
>Well, in a nutshell, 

Interesting times and looking up. :)
Pov is just the thing for hotel rooms, I find.
What is a field training school for Media Research?

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

"Ian Burgmyer" <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote in message 
news:4790b72e$1@news.povray.org...

>(by that I mean I took little more than my laptop, some clothes, my PSP and 
>DS, and my car with me),


     Heyup stranger! ;)  Still got the same car?

     Nice to see you back.  :o)

        ~Steve~





> -- 
> -Ian

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
>>> What have you been doing and are you really back?
>> Well, in a nutshell, 
> 
> Interesting times and looking up. :)

Indeed!

> Pov is just the thing for hotel rooms, I find.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, actually. ;)

> What is a field training school for Media Research?

Basically, I get to learn how to rip apart TVs, VCRs, whatever, and 
stick things into them. :P

Picture Nielsen as doing surveys on what people watch as they watch 
them.  I'm kind of at a loss for words this morning but you can read a 
little more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Media_Research

That article talks about diaries being the primary measurement method. 
Metering video equipment is the other method and that's the one that I'm 
going to be dealing with.  It's really interesting so far.

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

Ian Burgmyer wrote:

> 
> Throughout all of this, I somehow managed to become a bigger nerd than I 
> ever was.
> 
ROFL!!!!!!!!!

Post a reply to this message

'ey, Steve! :)

St. wrote:
>      Heyup stranger! ;)  Still got the same car?

Ah, I don't remember what the last car I actually talked about on here 
was. XD

I'm on my second car -- a gold 1995 Saturn SC2, acquired in Spring 2003. 
  I ended up getting rid of the big ol' '82 Toronado (I kept it in the 
family, though) when gas prices started to go up.  The Saturn is a lot 
smaller, a lot lighter, a bit faster, and, strangely enough, a lot 
easier to work on.

I don't have a picture on this computer or on my web space, but this is 
basically what it looks like:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/images/070115saturn.jpg

Mine's a little bit dinged up from the previous owners using it as a 
battering ram (it's not THAT bad...a cracked piece and some dings in the 
paint), but it runs and it runs well. :)

>      Nice to see you back.  :o)

Good to be back, sir. :)

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:43:07 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>Metering video equipment is the other method and that's the one that I'm 
>going to be dealing with.  It's really interesting so far.

Of course I knew that was one of the methods, when I thought about it. I only
vaguely recognised the name. In the UK, TV ratings are measured by the
"Broadcasters Audience Research Board" but I've heard of the Nielsen TV Ratings
for the US. 
It sounds like a good job. Well done.
Will you have to travel or will it be on site somewhere?

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> Of course I knew that was one of the methods, when I thought about it. I only
> vaguely recognised the name. In the UK, TV ratings are measured by the
> "Broadcasters Audience Research Board" but I've heard of the Nielsen TV Ratings
> for the US.

Ah, okay.

What kind of methods do the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB?) 
use?

> It sounds like a good job. Well done.

Thankie. :)

> Will you have to travel or will it be on site somewhere?

It depends on where I wind up.  If I end up in the Baltimore, MD, market 
I think it's all going to be fairly close.  Some markets are spread out 
kind of far from what I understand.

Nielsen gives out company cars, fortunately.  They're pretty generous 
about using them for personal use, too.  You get a certain percentage of 
personal miles for so many business miles that you drive; anything above 
and beyond you have to pay a certain amount for (which, I believe, is 
still cheaper than buying fuel).  About the only thing you can't do with 
the company cars is take them out of the country...no biggie.

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

"Ian Burgmyer" <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote in message 
news:4790d9ad$1@news.povray.org...
> 'ey, Steve! :)
>
> St. wrote:
>>      Heyup stranger! ;)  Still got the same car?
>
> Ah, I don't remember what the last car I actually talked about on here 
> was. XD

     Heh, I do. It was the Toronado - you LOVED that car!   :)


>
> I'm on my second car -- a gold 1995 Saturn SC2, acquired in Spring 2003. I 
> ended up getting rid of the big ol' '82 Toronado (I kept it in the family, 
> though)

   Cool... cousin, nephew, SON??  ;)


> when gas prices started to go up.


   Oh, Oh, Oh... Tell me about it...  :o(

   Man, we've got it bad here in the UK with our 80%* tax on fuel... I don't 
know how they do that...

    *I haven't a clue if that's correct or not.


The Saturn is a lot
> smaller, a lot lighter, a bit faster, and, strangely enough, a lot easier 
> to work on.
>
> I don't have a picture on this computer or on my web space, but this is 
> basically what it looks like:
>
> http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/images/070115saturn.jpg

   Oooo, I've seen a few of those around here. Nice.


>
> Mine's a little bit dinged up from the previous owners using it as a 
> battering ram (it's not THAT bad...a cracked piece and some dings in the 
> paint), but it runs and it runs well. :)

    Yeah, the same as my old Rover 820, dinged slightly on the nearside 
passenger door, (grrr) but at 14 years old and with only 48,000 *original* 
miles on the clock, I simply laugh at the broken down newbies on the 
motorway. They don't make 'em like they used to!  :)


>
>>      Nice to see you back.  :o)
>
> Good to be back, sir. :)

      Hey, stick around matey.

       ~Steve~


>
> -- 
> -Ian

Post a reply to this message

Ian Burgmyer wrote:
> Hi everyone!
> 
> *leaves for another 3/4 years*
> 
> -Ian ;)

Odd. I thought about you just yesterday when I saw a Toronado. Glad to 
see things are going well.

  -Shay

Post a reply to this message

St. wrote:
>      Heh, I do. It was the Toronado - you LOVED that car!   :)

Still do. :)  Definitely couldn't beat it as far as comfort is concerned.

The fact that my Saturn's gas tank is almost half the size yet has a 
much higher fuel range kind of sealed the deal, though.  I love the 
Satty, though, it's quite fun to drive.  It doesn't have a particularly 
powerful motor (124hp 1.9L DOHC) but the car is so light that it still 
manages to be pretty quick.

>> I'm on my second car -- a gold 1995 Saturn SC2, acquired in Spring 2003. I 
>> ended up getting rid of the big ol' '82 Toronado (I kept it in the family, 
>> though)
> 
>    Cool... cousin, nephew, SON??  ;)

Son?!  Oh, heavens no.  Not yet, anyway!

I ended up giving the car back to my father, who gave it to my uncle.

>    Man, we've got it bad here in the UK with our 80%* tax on fuel... I don't 
> know how they do that...
> 
>     *I haven't a clue if that's correct or not.

You guys have always gotten hosed when it comes to gas prices -- even 
before the recent fuel inflation -- haven't you?  I don't think I'd be 
able to afford to drive if I lived in the UK.

>> Mine's a little bit dinged up from the previous owners using it as a 
>> battering ram (it's not THAT bad...a cracked piece and some dings in the 
>> paint), but it runs and it runs well. :)
> 
>     Yeah, the same as my old Rover 820, dinged slightly on the nearside 
> passenger door,  (grrr)

That's the nice part about my car being mostly made out of plastic. :)

I need to do some touching up on the headlight flaps when I get home -- 
there's a bit of rust poking through.

> but at 14 years old and with only 48,000 *original* 
> miles on the clock, I simply laugh at the broken down newbies on the 
> motorway.

Woo, not bad! :O

My Satty's got 96000 miles on the odo right now.  I fully intend to be 
sitting in that car when it passes 100K.  It's kind of hard to believe 
that it only had something like 62000 miles on it when I got it.  I 
think I'm the one who put the most miles on it in its life.

>>>      Nice to see you back.  :o)
>> Good to be back, sir. :)
> 
>       Hey, stick around matey.

I shall, I shall!

-- 
-Ian

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Ian Burgmyer wrote:
> Throughout all of this, I somehow managed to become a bigger nerd than I 
> ever was.

Haven't we all? :)

-- 
...Ben Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com

Post a reply to this message

Shay wrote:
> Odd. I thought about you just yesterday when I saw a Toronado. Glad to 
> see things are going well.

It's good to know that I seemed to have left an impression on people. :)

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:14:23 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>What kind of methods do the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB?) 
>use?

Since you know the acronym you probably know more about it already than I do.
All I can do is give this link.
http://www.barb.co.uk/index1.cfm?flag=home

>
>> Will you have to travel or will it be on site somewhere?
>
>It depends on where I wind up.  If I end up in the Baltimore, MD, market 
>I think it's all going to be fairly close. 

That sounds good, I think.

> Some markets are spread out 
>kind of far from what I understand.

Given the geography of the States I would think so too :)

>Nielsen gives out company cars, fortunately.  They're pretty generous 
>about using them for personal use, too.  You get a certain percentage of 
>personal miles for so many business miles that you drive; anything above 
>and beyond you have to pay a certain amount for (which, I believe, is 
>still cheaper than buying fuel).  About the only thing you can't do with 
>the company cars is take them out of the country...no biggie.

Ah! My car is blue. It has been over a year since I put fuel into it.
</Interest> :-)

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
>> What kind of methods do the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB?) 
>> use?
> 
> Since you know the acronym you probably know more about it already than I do.
> All I can do is give this link.
> http://www.barb.co.uk/index1.cfm?flag=home

I just guessed the acronym based on the name of the organization, 
actually. :P

Looks like they do things in a similar way to how Nielsen does it...not 
too surprising.  Here's some more info about how Nielsen does its ratings:

http://tinyurl.com/z3are

(apologies for the TinyURL link -- the normal one is 143 characters long)

>> Some markets are spread out 
>> kind of far from what I understand.
> 
> Given the geography of the States I would think so too :)

Indeed.

I guess the field rep for the state of Maine basically covers the entire 
state.  I don't think I'd want to do that much driving. :)

> Ah! My car is blue. It has been over a year since I put fuel into it.
> </Interest> :-)

Whoops! :P

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:42:46 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>Stephen wrote:

>> Ah! My car is blue. It has been over a year since I put fuel into it.
>> </Interest> :-)
>
>Whoops! :P
LOL
I'm just not interested in cars. I quite like driving and I loved the drive from
Miami to Key West I did about 10 years ago. 
Living in London you don't need a car, in fact it is an inconvenience. What with
the cost of street parking about £4 per hour (last year) and the traffic travels
at an average of 4 mph, I take the bus and tube.
My other car is a red double decker :)
I've had a scene with a routmaster (traditional London bus) in my mind for a
couple of years. I'm just building up my skills before I start. It should be
ready for Pov Ver 4 :)

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> I'm just not interested in cars. I quite like driving and I loved the drive from
> Miami to Key West I did about 10 years ago. 

I'm going to be dealing with a shared car situation the entire time I'm 
in Tampa.  So far it's been quite...uhh...let's just say this is the 
first time I've been without a car for an extended period of time since 
I was 16.  It probably wouldn't be so bad if I didn't drive something 
like 1600 miles in the two weeks before I got here. :P

Ah well, I'll live.

> Living in London you don't need a car, in fact it is an inconvenience. What with
> the cost of street parking about £4 per hour (last year) and the traffic travels
> at an average of 4 mph, I take the bus and tube.

Yikes.

The whole thing about traffic going at 4 mph reminds me of Cleveland 
rush hour traffic.  My speeds pretty much ranged from 0 to 85, just by 
keeping up with traffic and not doing anything stupid.

Your parking rates are pretty obscene.  £4 works out to, what, $8-9?

> I've had a scene with a routmaster (traditional London bus) in my mind for a
> couple of years. I'm just building up my skills before I start. It should be
> ready for Pov Ver 4 :)

Heh. :P

I'm looking forward to seeing that if you ever slap it together.

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:33:35 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>> I'm just not interested in cars. I quite like driving and I loved the drive from
>> Miami to Key West I did about 10 years ago. 
>
>I'm going to be dealing with a shared car situation the entire time I'm 
>in Tampa.  So far it's been quite...uhh...let's just say this is the 
>first time I've been without a car for an extended period of time since 
>I was 16.  

It must make you feel poor.

>It probably wouldn't be so bad if I didn't drive something 
>like 1600 miles in the two weeks before I got here. :P
>
>Ah well, I'll live.

I would have thought that you would welcome a rest :)

>
>The whole thing about traffic going at 4 mph reminds me of Cleveland 
>rush hour traffic.  My speeds pretty much ranged from 0 to 85, just by 
>keeping up with traffic and not doing anything stupid.
>
>Your parking rates are pretty obscene.  £4 works out to, what, $8-9?
>

Yup! And that is not counting the "congestion charge". I generally park in China
Town, where you can get half price parking if you are going to the theatre or
buy a meal in a supporting restaurant.

>> I've had a scene with a routmaster (traditional London bus) in my mind for a
>> couple of years. I'm just building up my skills before I start. It should be
>> ready for Pov Ver 4 :)
>
>Heh. :P
>
>I'm looking forward to seeing that if you ever slap it together.

The working title is "Ritual Suicide at the number six bus stop".
:)

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
>> I'm going to be dealing with a shared car situation the entire time I'm 
>> in Tampa.  So far it's been quite...uhh...let's just say this is the 
>> first time I've been without a car for an extended period of time since 
>> I was 16.  
> 
> It must make you feel poor.

I wouldn't go that far but it has been quite an adjustment.

One nice thing about it is that it sort of gives me some company.  See, 
I dislike shopping alone in a lot of cases because I find it boring. 
When there's someone with me, it kind of balances me out a bit.  It's weird.

>> It probably wouldn't be so bad if I didn't drive something 
>> like 1600 miles in the two weeks before I got here. :P
>>
>> Ah well, I'll live.
> 
> I would have thought that you would welcome a rest :)

Strangely, no.  I figured it would be a nice rest at first but I think 
it's a bit too extreme of a change.

It's kinda like going from Ohio weather to Florida weather.  It feels 
like Spring or early Summer down here, when in the reality I'm right in 
the middle of Winter.  I love it. :D

> Yup! And that is not counting the "congestion charge".

Whaaaaaaaat? :(

That doesn't sound cool at all...

> I generally park in China
> Town, where you can get half price parking if you are going to the theatre or
> buy a meal in a supporting restaurant.

Eh, it sure beats dishing out four quid per hour for parking.

Now that I think about it, parking is dirt cheap in some areas of the 
US.  A couple of good friends of mine used to live in an apartment in 
Monaca, Pennsylvania (it's close-ish to Pittsburgh, if you know roughly 
where that is -- only about an hour drive from my parent's house) and 
the parking lot near them only cost a quarter per hour, only from 
8am-4pm, and only on weekdays.  Can't complain about a $2 parking fee 
for a whole day.

>>> I've had a scene with a routmaster (traditional London bus) in my mind for a
>>> couple of years. I'm just building up my skills before I start. It should be
>>> ready for Pov Ver 4 :)
>> Heh. :P
>>
>> I'm looking forward to seeing that if you ever slap it together.
> 
> The working title is "Ritual Suicide at the number six bus stop".
> :)

Even better. :P

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

"Ian Burgmyer" <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote in message 
news:4791ad19$1@news.povray.org...
> St. wrote:
>>      Heh, I do. It was the Toronado - you LOVED that car!   :)
>
> Still do. :)  Definitely couldn't beat it as far as comfort is concerned.

     Yeah, I bet, it did look nice, (and big for such a young guy!) Was it 
the 'Ghia' version?

>
> The fact that my Saturn's gas tank is almost half the size yet has a much 
> higher fuel range kind of sealed the deal, though.  I love the Satty, 
> though, it's quite fun to drive.  It doesn't have a particularly powerful 
> motor (124hp 1.9L DOHC) but the car is so light that it still manages to 
> be pretty quick.

      Yeah, I bet. I think I've seen a few of those over here and I always 
thought "I bet they 'go' a bit".


>
>>> I'm on my second car -- a gold 1995 Saturn SC2, acquired in Spring 2003. 
>>> I ended up getting rid of the big ol' '82 Toronado (I kept it in the 
>>> family, though)

      Hmm, now let me see... <counts fingers>, my first car was a 
second-hand Ford Cortina MkII, gold colour with a leather roof - death trap, 
went to a wedding and the brakes failed coming up to a roundabout at 70mph. 
Foot to floor on the brake pedal got the nose of the car just over the line 
on the roundabout... The guy behind me helped me push it out of the way - 
embarassing.  :o(

 Second was a Ford Cortina Estate, (you'd think I'd avoid them by now), it 
was damn lime green! Good car, but never again... ;)

 Switched to Vauxhall for my third car, a second-hand Hatch Cavalier. Now 
that was nice, I guess at the time, it was my first 'modern' car, being only 
about 8 years old, but then I had a problem with it and one of my friends 
said thay knew someone that can fix it easily, and he proceeded to blow the 
engine when testing it!! I can't remember what the problem was now, but to 
be fair, he replaced the car with another Cav, and that lasted about 3 
years.

   Hmm, what next? Oh yes! A Ford Mondeo, ex taxi cab - never again.

    And lastly, the Rover 820. Took it for its third MOT since I've had it 
the other day... and it failed. Heh, they told me the number plate lights 
weren't working, but when I got it back home to check, they were working! 
But, the windows that they shine through, (yes, 'they' because I've got twin 
light bulbs see), ;) were really dirty, so I stripped it all down and 
cleaned them, took it back and it went through ok. STRIKE THREE!  :) I think 
I'll keep it for another year and start looking for something newer. Maybe.


>>
>>    Cool... cousin, nephew, SON??  ;)
>
> Son?!  Oh, heavens no.  Not yet, anyway!

    LOL! Yeah, I know, I was just 'kidding' around.  :)


>
> I ended up giving the car back to my father, who gave it to my uncle.
>
>>    Man, we've got it bad here in the UK with our 80%* tax on fuel... I 
>> don't know how they do that...
>>
>>     *I haven't a clue if that's correct or not.
>
> You guys have always gotten hosed when it comes to gas prices -- even 
> before the recent fuel inflation -- haven't you?  I don't think I'd be 
> able to afford to drive if I lived in the UK.

    Seriously, it feels like if I stick £20 in on a low tank, I'll travel 15 
miles at the moment. Well, that's not true, but it feels like it. :o(


>
>>> Mine's a little bit dinged up from the previous owners using it as a 
>>> battering ram (it's not THAT bad...a cracked piece and some dings in the 
>>> paint), but it runs and it runs well. :)
>>
>>     Yeah, the same as my old Rover 820, dinged slightly on the nearside 
>> passenger door,  (grrr)
>
> That's the nice part about my car being mostly made out of plastic. :)

     *Please* don't do those slidy skid manoeuvres in snow "just to get used 
to it". Find an empty car park...  ;)


>
> I need to do some touching up on the headlight flaps when I get home -- 
> there's a bit of rust poking through.
>
>> but at 14 years old and with only 48,000 *original* miles on the clock, I 
>> simply laugh at the broken down newbies on the motorway.
>
> Woo, not bad! :O

    Yeah, it belonged to a Doctor that only used it for golf on Sundays, 
seriously!


>
> My Satty's got 96000 miles on the odo right now.  I fully intend to be 
> sitting in that car when it passes 100K.  It's kind of hard to believe 
> that it only had something like 62000 miles on it when I got it.  I think 
> I'm the one who put the most miles on it in its life.

     Wow, you've done a bit of travelling around there Ian! Mine had 43,000 
mile on it when I bought it, so that's 5,000 miles I've done in 3 years. I 
should change my name to 'Hermit'. ;)


>
>>>>      Nice to see you back.  :o)
>>> Good to be back, sir. :)
>>
>>       Hey, stick around matey.
>
> I shall, I shall!

    Goodo! I did think about you lot's of times simply because you just did 
the Genie thing, and disappeared! Kids these days... I dunno.... ;)

      ~Steve~



>
> -- 
> -Ian

Post a reply to this message

St. wrote:
>>>      Heh, I do. It was the Toronado - you LOVED that car!   :)
>> Still do. :)  Definitely couldn't beat it as far as comfort is concerned.
> 
>      Yeah, I bet, it did look nice, (and big for such a young guy!)

The Toronado was just my size, really.  As far as the Saturn goes, well, 
just just say I ended up getting the "big man, small car" joke a lot. :P

> Was it the 'Ghia' version?

That would be a negative.

>       Yeah, I bet. I think I've seen a few of those over here and I always 
> thought "I bet they 'go' a bit".

Indeed. :)

It's even more fun when you put it into "performance" mode.  As far as I 
can tell, it's the same basic experience as having a performance chip 
installed, but gives you the advantage of being able to switch it on and 
off (perfect for Ohio winters!).  The gas pedal is touchier, it tends to 
rev higher, and in some cases can give slightly better gas mileage 
(though if you're a lead foot it's probably going to plummet).

The company rental car that I ended up getting down here in Florida is a 
Ford Taurus SEL.  Not a bad little car (surprisingly quick for what it 
is) but I prefer my Satty.

>       Hmm, now let me see... <counts fingers>, my first car was a 
> second-hand Ford Cortina MkII, gold colour with a leather roof - death trap, 
> went to a wedding and the brakes failed coming up to a roundabout at 70mph. 
> Foot to floor on the brake pedal got the nose of the car just over the line 
> on the roundabout... The guy behind me helped me push it out of the way - 
> embarassing.  :o(

Ouch...definitely not good. :(

I was involved in my first traffic accident in a Ford, too.  My 
Pennsylvanian friends and I were driving in their Ford Escort down a 
freeway at 70mph when the front driver side tire suddenly blew out. 
Smacked into a tall concrete barrier going 70mph, pulled away slightly, 
slammed into it again, then skidded across the road and hit a guardrail 
at 35mph, then rolled to a stop.

None of us were hurt, fortunately.  I was actually the worst one hurt, 
only because I scraped my knuckled while trying to jack the car up with 
those damn crank things that they throw in the trunk.

The car made it to their apartment with the spare donut (!!) but the 
front end was so badly hammered from the crash ($4000+ worth of damage! 
  cripes) that the insurance company totaled it.

>  Second was a Ford Cortina Estate, (you'd think I'd avoid them by now), it 
> was damn lime green! Good car, but never again... ;)

Lime green... XD  Nice.

>  Switched to Vauxhall for my third car, a second-hand Hatch Cavalier. Now 
> that was nice, I guess at the time, it was my first 'modern' car, being only 
> about 8 years old, but then I had a problem with it and one of my friends 
> said thay knew someone that can fix it easily, and he proceeded to blow the 
> engine when testing it!! I can't remember what the problem was now, but to 
> be fair, he replaced the car with another Cav, and that lasted about 3 
> years.

I could see it now...

<Mechanic> Alright, there we go!  Let's hop in and make sure it runs.
* Machanic gets in the car.
* Machanic starts the car.
* Mechanic puts the pedal to the metal.
* Mechanic falls asleep.
* Car has quit IRC (AcK!!!!1)
* Steve has joined #life
<Steve> Dude, where's my car?
<Mechanic> Uh...whoops.
* Ian has been kicked (HORRIBLE HORRIBLE PUNS D:)

>    Hmm, what next? Oh yes! A Ford Mondeo, ex taxi cab - never again.

Ew.  Dare I ask how many billions of miles were on it?

>     And lastly, the Rover 820. Took it for its third MOT since I've had it 
> the other day... and it failed. Heh, they told me the number plate lights 
> weren't working, but when I got it back home to check, they were working!

Heh, the police in a town near me love to pull people over for "faulty 
license plate lights."  My dad was pulled over for that once and when he 
checked they were working fine.  Odds are the cop just wanted to know 
why he was out at 2am (he was going to work) and couldn't use that as a 
reason to pull him over.

> But, the windows that they shine through, (yes, 'they' because I've got twin 
> light bulbs see), ;) were really dirty, so I stripped it all down and 
> cleaned them, took it back and it went through ok. STRIKE THREE!  :)

Sounds like my headlights, heh.  I generally leave them popped up in the 
winter so that they don't freeze and break on me (because it looks 
really silly when cars are perpetually winking) and I have to clean them 
off regularly because of all the salt and crap that get stuck to them.

>>>    Cool... cousin, nephew, SON??  ;)
>> Son?!  Oh, heavens no.  Not yet, anyway!
> 
>     LOL! Yeah, I know, I was just 'kidding' around.  :)

Sure, sure... ;)

>> You guys have always gotten hosed when it comes to gas prices -- even 
>> before the recent fuel inflation -- haven't you?  I don't think I'd be 
>> able to afford to drive if I lived in the UK.
> 
>     Seriously, it feels like if I stick £20 in on a low tank, I'll travel 15 
> miles at the moment. Well, that's not true, but it feels like it. :o(

Yes indeed...

It's kind of crazy.  When I first started driving, gas prices were a 
third of what they are now.  I used to be able to fill my Toronado's 
twenty gallon tank for less than I can fill my Saturn's twelve gallon 
tank.  Amazing how things change in, what, seven years? :(

>      *Please* don't do those slidy skid manoeuvres in snow "just to get used 
> to it". Find an empty car park...  ;)

Don't worry, I've gotten [most of] that out of my system already. ;)

>>> but at 14 years old and with only 48,000 *original* miles on the clock, I 
>>> simply laugh at the broken down newbies on the motorway.
>> Woo, not bad! :O
> 
>     Yeah, it belonged to a Doctor that only used it for golf on Sundays, 
> seriously!

I was thinking more along the lines of "granny's car," but that works, too.

>> My Satty's got 96000 miles on the odo right now.  I fully intend to be 
>> sitting in that car when it passes 100K.  It's kind of hard to believe 
>> that it only had something like 62000 miles on it when I got it.  I think 
>> I'm the one who put the most miles on it in its life.
> 
>      Wow, you've done a bit of travelling around there Ian! Mine had 43,000 
> mile on it when I bought it, so that's 5,000 miles I've done in 3 years. I 
> should change my name to 'Hermit'. ;)

Meep. O.o

Yeah, I ended up doing a lot of little traveling over the years. 
Something like 100-200 miles per week between visiting my friends, going 
to work, going to school, and just going to places locally.

Going between Maryland and Ohio probably accounts for around 1000 miles, 
then there's all of the miles that I'd put on there for my new job.  Woo...

I've gotten very used to life without cruise control, believe me.

>>>>>      Nice to see you back.  :o)
>>>> Good to be back, sir. :)
>>>       Hey, stick around matey.
>> I shall, I shall!
> 
>     Goodo!

...goodo?  Nice. XD

> I did think about you lot's of times simply because you just did 
> the Genie thing, and disappeared!

That skill has taken me years to perfect.

> Kids these days... I dunno.... ;)

Yep...damn kids. :P

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:47:47 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>>> I'm going to be dealing with a shared car situation the entire time I'm 
>>> in Tampa.  So far it's been quite...uhh...let's just say this is the 
>>> first time I've been without a car for an extended period of time since 
>>> I was 16.  
>> 
>> It must make you feel poor.
>
>I wouldn't go that far but it has been quite an adjustment.

I forgot the smiley

>One nice thing about it is that it sort of gives me some company.  See, 
>I dislike shopping alone in a lot of cases because I find it boring. 
>When there's someone with me, it kind of balances me out a bit.  It's weird.
>

I often work in teams and a couple of years ago we went to Pittsburgh for a
project kick-off. Strange shopping with other people I hate shopping :). 

>>> It probably wouldn't be so bad if I didn't drive something 
>>> like 1600 miles in the two weeks before I got here. :P
>>>
>>> Ah well, I'll live.
>> 
>> I would have thought that you would welcome a rest :)
>
>Strangely, no.  I figured it would be a nice rest at first but I think 
>it's a bit too extreme of a change.
>
>It's kinda like going from Ohio weather to Florida weather.  It feels 
>like Spring or early Summer down here, when in the reality I'm right in 
>the middle of Winter.  I love it. :D
>
>> Yup! And that is not counting the "congestion charge".
>
>Whaaaaaaaat? :(
>
>That doesn't sound cool at all...

Don't sleep, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge
I heard that New York was thinking of trying it.
BTW I approve of it, travelling in London has improved since it was introduced
IMHO


>> I generally park in China
>> Town, where you can get half price parking if you are going to the theatre or
>> buy a meal in a supporting restaurant.
>
>Eh, it sure beats dishing out four quid per hour for parking.

That is for on street parking

>Now that I think about it, parking is dirt cheap in some areas of the 
>US.  A couple of good friends of mine used to live in an apartment in 
>Monaca, Pennsylvania (it's close-ish to Pittsburgh, if you know roughly 
>where that is -- only about an hour drive from my parent's house) and 
>the parking lot near them only cost a quarter per hour, only from 
>8am-4pm, and only on weekdays.  Can't complain about a $2 parking fee 
>for a whole day.
>
It is cheaper in most other towns and cities in the UK

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
>>>> I'm going to be dealing with a shared car situation the entire time I'm 
>>>> in Tampa.  So far it's been quite...uhh...let's just say this is the 
>>>> first time I've been without a car for an extended period of time since 
>>>> I was 16.  
>>> It must make you feel poor.
>> I wouldn't go that far but it has been quite an adjustment.
> 
> I forgot the smiley

Here, have mine: :)

>> One nice thing about it is that it sort of gives me some company.  See, 
>> I dislike shopping alone in a lot of cases because I find it boring. 
>> When there's someone with me, it kind of balances me out a bit.  It's weird.
> 
> I often work in teams and a couple of years ago we went to Pittsburgh for a
> project kick-off. Strange shopping with other people I hate shopping :). 

Haha, yeah, I guess it kind of depends on who I'm with.

There are some cases where I do prefer to go alone.  I ended up buying a 
camera the other day (Nikon D40, so I can finally stop using my crappy 
cell phone camera) and I doubt I would have sprinted in and out as 
quickly as I did if I'd had someone there.  Odds are I would have wound 
up spending more money. :S  External influence can be a bad thing in 
some cases.

>>> Yup! And that is not counting the "congestion charge".
>> Whaaaaaaaat? :(
>>
>> That doesn't sound cool at all...
> 
> Don't sleep, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge
> I heard that New York was thinking of trying it.
> BTW I approve of it, travelling in London has improved since it was introduced
> IMHO

I dunno...seems a little steep to me.

I'm really not sure if that would work in the States.  I'm just thinking 
of all the people who have hour-plus commutes and the relatively poor 
public transit systems in a lot of areas.  I'm fairly ignorant about 
daily life in Europe (for obvious reasons :P), so I don't know about the 
situation in various parts overseas.

>>> I generally park in China
>>> Town, where you can get half price parking if you are going to the theatre or
>>> buy a meal in a supporting restaurant.
>> Eh, it sure beats dishing out four quid per hour for parking.
> 
> That is for on street parking

Ouch. O.O

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:07:54 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>> I forgot the smiley
>
>Here, have mine: :)

Thankye


>There are some cases where I do prefer to go alone.  I ended up buying a 
>camera the other day (Nikon D40, so I can finally stop using my crappy 
>cell phone camera) and I doubt I would have sprinted in and out as 
>quickly as I did if I'd had someone there.  Odds are I would have wound 
>up spending more money. :S  External influence can be a bad thing in 
>some cases.

Well I'm lucky, I just tell my wife what sort of thing I'd like and she will
find out the model and best price then send me out to buy it. She's not a techie
but developed the skills shopping for HiFi. Again she'd send me out to buy it
because she got comments like "The blue interconnects, is that to match your
curtains?"
"No to match the colour of your face as I strangle you with them!" 
It was safer if I went alone and quicker too. :) Yip a touch of red headedness,
I fear.


>> Don't sleep, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge
>> I heard that New York was thinking of trying it.
>> BTW I approve of it, travelling in London has improved since it was introduced
>> IMHO
>
>I dunno...seems a little steep to me.

The idea is to cut down the number of cars. Drivers need more that just a polite
asking.

>I'm really not sure if that would work in the States.  I'm just thinking 
>of all the people who have hour-plus commutes and the relatively poor 
>public transit systems in a lot of areas.  I'm fairly ignorant about 
>daily life in Europe (for obvious reasons :P), so I don't know about the 
>situation in various parts overseas.
>

It might in NY, maybe Jim C will have an idea. You have to remember most of
London was designed for the horse and cart. The traffic is horrendous, a journey
of about six miles could take between twenty minutes and two hours (not rush
hour). Oxford street, a bus and taxi only street takes about fifteen minutes to
travel a mile. Almost as quick to walk. The transport system has been improved
but our tube maintenance company just went bust. 
Bicycles, motor bikes, invalid's cars and green cars are free (I think). 

>> That is for on street parking
>
>Ouch. O.O

Have you heard about "wheel clamping" where your car is immobilised if you don't
park in a recognised parking bay? You get the car back after paying a large fine
and then have to wait until someone unlocks your car.

The signs of things to come, Whooooo! :)
 

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> Well I'm lucky, I just tell my wife what sort of thing I'd like and she will
> find out the model and best price then send me out to buy it.

Always nice to have a dedicated researcher. :)

Unfortunately for me, that's what I tend to be in my circle of friends 
and family.  Ah well.

> She's not a techie
> but developed the skills shopping for HiFi. Again she'd send me out to buy it
> because she got comments like "The blue interconnects, is that to match your
> curtains?"
> "No to match the colour of your face as I strangle you with them!" 

That...is amazing. :D

>> I'm really not sure if that would work in the States.  I'm just thinking 
>> of all the people who have hour-plus commutes and the relatively poor 
>> public transit systems in a lot of areas.  I'm fairly ignorant about 
>> daily life in Europe (for obvious reasons :P), so I don't know about the 
>> situation in various parts overseas.
> 
> It might in NY, maybe Jim C will have an idea.

Yeah, I don't know about New York.  I've only driven through Cleveland 
and Pittsburgh and both of those cities seem pretty well-managed during 
rush hour to me.

In all honesty, I'd rather drive through Cleveland during rush hour than 
through Boardman, OH, any time before midnight.  Boardman's traffic is 
so horrid that it can take fifteen minutes to travel five miles 
(partially due to driver stupidity and mostly due to OH-224 needing 
another land in that city).

> You have to remember most of
> London was designed for the horse and cart. The traffic is horrendous, a journey
> of about six miles could take between twenty minutes and two hours (not rush
> hour). Oxford street, a bus and taxi only street takes about fifteen minutes to
> travel a mile. Almost as quick to walk. The transport system has been improved
> but our tube maintenance company just went bust.

Have you ever watched the movie Office Space?  What you just described 
reminds me of the beginning of it. :P

> Have you heard about "wheel clamping" where your car is immobilised if you don't
> park in a recognised parking bay? You get the car back after paying a large fine
> and then have to wait until someone unlocks your car.

Oh yes.

I've never witnessed anyone getting clamped, but I've seen pictures. 
Not pretty (I imagine it would be rather effective, though).

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:12:07 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>> Well I'm lucky, I just tell my wife what sort of thing I'd like and she will
>> find out the model and best price then send me out to buy it.
>
>Always nice to have a dedicated researcher. :)
>
>Unfortunately for me, that's what I tend to be in my circle of friends 
>and family.  Ah well.

In that case I was thinking of replacing my laptop and here are my requirements
…
:)

>> She's not a techie
>> but developed the skills shopping for HiFi. Again she'd send me out to buy it
>> because she got comments like "The blue interconnects, is that to match your
>> curtains?"
>> "No to match the colour of your face as I strangle you with them!" 
>
>That...is amazing. :D
>

What is amazing, the sales assistant or my wife's reply? 

Just ask any woman who buys anything technical if they've ever been patronised.




>(partially due to driver stupidity and mostly due to OH-224 needing 
>another land in that city).

Sorry I don't get the reference.

>> You have to remember most of
>> London was designed for the horse and cart. The traffic is horrendous, a journey
>> of about six miles could take between twenty minutes and two hours (not rush
>> hour). Oxford street, a bus and taxi only street takes about fifteen minutes to
>> travel a mile. Almost as quick to walk. The transport system has been improved
>> but our tube maintenance company just went bust.
>
>Have you ever watched the movie Office Space?  What you just described 
>reminds me of the beginning of it. :P
>

No, I'm not a movie buff, or sports come to that.

>> Have you heard about "wheel clamping" where your car is immobilised if you don't
>> park in a recognised parking bay? You get the car back after paying a large fine
>> and then have to wait until someone unlocks your car.
>
>Oh yes.
>
>I've never witnessed anyone getting clamped, but I've seen pictures. 
>Not pretty (I imagine it would be rather effective, though).

You don't do it twice :)

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
>> Always nice to have a dedicated researcher. :)
>>
>> Unfortunately for me, that's what I tend to be in my circle of friends 
>> and family.  Ah well.
> 
> In that case I was thinking of replacing my laptop and here are my requirements
> …
> :)

Alright, let's do this. 8)

You obviously need a top of the line Alienware laptop.  Nothing less 
will do.

>>> She's not a techie
>>> but developed the skills shopping for HiFi. Again she'd send me out to buy it
>>> because she got comments like "The blue interconnects, is that to match your
>>> curtains?"
>>> "No to match the colour of your face as I strangle you with them!" 
>> That...is amazing. :D
> 
> What is amazing, the sales assistant or my wife's reply? 

The entire exchange.

> Just ask any woman who buys anything technical if they've ever been patronised.

I dunno, I think it's more just a sales thing.  There are very few 
instances that I'm dealing with sales people that I don't get 
patronized.  Maybe I'm just in touch with my feminine side. :)

Buying my camera was actually a pretty pleasant experience because the 
person who sold it to me was a bit of a DSLR buff.  He didn't try to 
push me into a higher priced model, he didn't go "oh, why would you want 
*THAT* one."  Best customer service I've gotten at a retailer in a while.

>> (partially due to driver stupidity and mostly due to OH-224 needing 
>> another land in that city).
> 
> Sorry I don't get the reference.

I typoed. :(  I meant to say "needing another lane."  The traffic gets 
so backed up with nowhere to go; they really need another lane on that road.

>> Have you ever watched the movie Office Space?  What you just described 
>> reminds me of the beginning of it. :P
> 
> No, I'm not a movie buff, or sports come to that.

Alright, I shall describe. :)

The main characters are driving to work and traffic is completely 
stopped.  The main main main main character, Peter, looks over and sees 
an elderly man with a walker, slowly making his way down the sidewalk. 
When he notices a lane next to him moving, he switches to it and ends up 
having to stop immediately.  When this happens, the lane he was just in 
starts moving.  He switches, it stops.

Long story short, the guy with the walker was the clear winner.

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:32:05 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:


>Alright, let's do this. 8)
>
>You obviously need a top of the line Alienware laptop.  Nothing less 
>will do.

You have hit the nail on the head :) That is exactly what I want but I don't
want to pay the price. My current laptop is a DTR with a full size k/board and a
lot of cpu ticks. But it is old and noisy and very heavy. Have you heard the
term "lugable"? :)
So I want to go for something lighter. Most of the laptops on the market seem to
be dual processors with a lower clock speed. As I use Ver 3.6 and don't want to
use the beta because my modeller is a beta too. 
What to do? I don't know what I want.
So fix that, please :)


>>>> She's not a techie
>>>> but developed the skills shopping for HiFi. Again she'd send me out to buy it
>>>> because she got comments like "The blue interconnects, is that to match your
>>>> curtains?"
>>>> "No to match the colour of your face as I strangle you with them!" 
>>> That...is amazing. :D
>> 
>> What is amazing, the sales assistant or my wife's reply? 
>
>The entire exchange.

You're young, yet :)

>> Just ask any woman who buys anything technical if they've ever been patronised.
>
>I dunno, I think it's more just a sales thing.  There are very few 
>instances that I'm dealing with sales people that I don't get 
>patronized.  Maybe I'm just in touch with my feminine side. :)

Yes it is a sales thing and a waiter thing (in the UK). I find that in most
shops that sell consumer electronics the staff know more about the extendable
warranty that the product. I've lost my interest in mega pixels I just want to
see the quality. I don't want to hear about the number of bits in a DAC etc.

And to be fare to my wife, she didn't actually say that to the salesman. It is
just what she wanted to say. 

>Buying my camera was actually a pretty pleasant experience because the 
>person who sold it to me was a bit of a DSLR buff.  He didn't try to 
>push me into a higher priced model, he didn't go "oh, why would you want 
>*THAT* one."  Best customer service I've gotten at a retailer in a while.

Remember that store.


>Alright, I shall describe. :)
>
>The main characters are driving to work and traffic is completely 
>stopped.  The main main main main character, Peter, looks over and sees 
>an elderly man with a walker, slowly making his way down the sidewalk. 
>When he notices a lane next to him moving, he switches to it and ends up 
>having to stop immediately.  When this happens, the lane he was just in 
>starts moving.  He switches, it stops.
>
>Long story short, the guy with the walker was the clear winner.

From RL :)

Regards
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Ian Burgmyer escribió:
> *Speaking of that, what on earth lead to p.o-t.h-v-c.f.f.f and 
> p.o-t.f.h.b.b.b?! XD

WTF! I didn't notice :|

Post a reply to this message

Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> *Speaking of that, what on earth lead to p.o-t.h-v-c.f.f.f and 
> p.o-t.f.h.b.b.b?! XD

  Andrew and me.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> Ian Burgmyer escribió:
>> *Speaking of that, what on earth lead to p.o-t.h-v-c.f.f.f and
>> p.o-t.f.h.b.b.b?! XD
> 
> WTF! I didn't notice :|

So haven't I. I can't even find anything like those from the server...

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
   http://www.zbxt.net
      aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
>> You obviously need a top of the line Alienware laptop.  Nothing less 
>> will do.
> 
> You have hit the nail on the head :) That is exactly what I want but I don't
> want to pay the price.

Heh, I probably wouldn't use an Alienware laptop if one were given to me 
(well, I might use it, but I probably wouldn't enjoy it).  Last 
Alienware laptop I used got so hot it hurt my legs and its battery life 
was so horrid that they should have just left the battery out of the design.

> My current laptop is a DTR with a full size k/board and a
> lot of cpu ticks. But it is old and noisy and very heavy. Have you heard the
> term "lugable"? :)

Oh yes.

My laptop is rather large (hurray, 17" screen!), but it doesn't have a 
full-sized keyboard and all.  That would just be excessive. :P

Also, pics please.  I'd like to see your little goliath.

> So I want to go for something lighter. Most of the laptops on the market seem to
> be dual processors with a lower clock speed.  As I use Ver 3.6 and don't want to
> use the beta because my modeller is a beta too. 
> What to do? I don't know what I want.
> So fix that, please :)

I CAN'T! :(

hrm...

As far as the clock speed issue is concerned, it all depends on what 
you're comparing it to.  Since the Pentium M, Intel's completely 
rethought their strategy, focusing on efficiency rather than pumping the 
clock speed as high as they possibly can.  I did some informal tests on 
my systems and my laptop's Pentium M (Dothan core) 1.73GHz CPU is faster 
than my desktop's Pentium 4 (Prescott core) 2.80GHz CPU (FSB on both 
systems is 533MHz).  If you're thinking in terms of a Pentium 4 or 
Pentium D, a 2.4GHz Core 2 is going to mercilessly kill just about any 
of them (with fire).  To make the situation even better, they don't get 
as hot.  My laptop's processor runs cooler under load (with the fan in 
my laptop set to "low") than my Preshott does idle (whose case has a 
bazillion fans in it).

So really, even if you're only using a single core on a modern laptop, 
odds are you're going to wind up with a system that performs exceedingly 
well.

>>>>> She's not a techie
>>>>> but developed the skills shopping for HiFi. Again she'd send me out to buy it
>>>>> because she got comments like "The blue interconnects, is that to match your
>>>>> curtains?"
>>>>> "No to match the colour of your face as I strangle you with them!" 
>>>> That...is amazing. :D
>>> What is amazing, the sales assistant or my wife's reply? 
>> The entire exchange.
> 
> You're young, yet :)

I'm easily amused. :)

> Yes it is a sales thing and a waiter thing (in the UK). I find that in most
> shops that sell consumer electronics the staff know more about the extendable
> warranty that the product. I've lost my interest in mega pixels I just want to
> see the quality. I don't want to hear about the number of bits in a DAC etc.

Exactly.

As far as the whole megapixels thing goes, it seems as though everyone 
gets into that.  In my class, a bunch of people got on my case for 
paying $550 for a camera that "only" takes 6.1 megapixel shots.

When you do the math, there really isn't much of a difference between 6 
megapixels and 8 megapixels.  To double the resolution of a 6 megapixel 
camera, you'd have to use a 24 megapixel camera.

I'd rather pay more for a camera that takes *damn good* 6 megapixel 
shots than a camera that's $50 less that takes crappy 10 megapixel shots 
that need to be scaled down to eliminate all of the artifacts in the 
picture.  If I wanted to have to scale down photos to make them look 
less crappy I'd use my cell phone camera.

> And to be fare to my wife, she didn't actually say that to the salesman. It is
> just what she wanted to say. 

Sure, sure... ;)

>> Buying my camera was actually a pretty pleasant experience because the 
>> person who sold it to me was a bit of a DSLR buff.  He didn't try to 
>> push me into a higher priced model, he didn't go "oh, why would you want 
>> *THAT* one."  Best customer service I've gotten at a retailer in a while.
> 
> Remember that store.

*sigh* If only it weren't a thousand miles from home. :(

Ah well, I'm still going to be in Tampa for about a month and a week, so 
it's all good.

-- 
-Ian

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:39:03 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:


>Heh, I probably wouldn't use an Alienware laptop if one were given to me 
>(well, I might use it, but I probably wouldn't enjoy it).  Last 
>Alienware laptop I used got so hot it hurt my legs and its battery life 
>was so horrid that they should have just left the battery out of the design.

We must read different books but I do remember that laptop :)


>
>My laptop is rather large (hurray, 17" screen!), but it doesn't have a 
>full-sized keyboard and all.  That would just be excessive. :P
>

I don't know about that. It makes a big difference to me.

>Also, pics please.  I'd like to see your little goliath.

Sorry, no can do. It is a K8T800 motherboard if that helps?

>> So I want to go for something lighter. Most of the laptops on the market seem to
>> be dual processors with a lower clock speed.  As I use Ver 3.6 and don't want to
>> use the beta because my modeller is a beta too. 
>> What to do? I don't know what I want.
>> So fix that, please :)
>
>I CAN'T! :(
>
>hrm...
>
>As far as the clock speed issue is concerned, it all depends on what 
>you're comparing it to.  Since the Pentium M, Intel's completely 
>rethought their strategy, focusing on efficiency rather than pumping the 
>clock speed as high as they possibly can.  I did some informal tests on 
>my systems and my laptop's Pentium M (Dothan core) 1.73GHz CPU is faster 
>than my desktop's Pentium 4 (Prescott core) 2.80GHz CPU (FSB on both 
>systems is 533MHz).  If you're thinking in terms of a Pentium 4 or 
>Pentium D, a 2.4GHz Core 2 is going to mercilessly kill just about any 
>of them (with fire).  To make the situation even better, they don't get 
>as hot.  My laptop's processor runs cooler under load (with the fan in 
>my laptop set to "low") than my Preshott does idle (whose case has a 
>bazillion fans in it).
>
>So really, even if you're only using a single core on a modern laptop, 
>odds are you're going to wind up with a system that performs exceedingly 
>well.
>

Thanks for that. I think I lost track when they went to 16 bit :)



>As far as the whole megapixels thing goes, it seems as though everyone 
>gets into that.  In my class, a bunch of people got on my case for 
>paying $550 for a camera that "only" takes 6.1 megapixel shots.
>
>When you do the math, there really isn't much of a difference between 6 
>megapixels and 8 megapixels.  To double the resolution of a 6 megapixel 
>camera, you'd have to use a 24 megapixel camera.
>
>I'd rather pay more for a camera that takes *damn good* 6 megapixel 
>shots than a camera that's $50 less that takes crappy 10 megapixel shots 
>that need to be scaled down to eliminate all of the artifacts in the 
>picture.  If I wanted to have to scale down photos to make them look 
>less crappy I'd use my cell phone camera.
>

And the lens don't forget the lens.

>> And to be fare to my wife, she didn't actually say that to the salesman. It is
>> just what she wanted to say. 
>
>Sure, sure... ;)
>

Ok it's what I wanted her to say :)


>Ah well, I'm still going to be in Tampa for about a month and a week, so 
>it's all good.

It sounds so exotic :)
That is a long course it must cover a lot? Is it a campus and do you get out at
night? :)

Regards
	Stephen

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Eero Ahonen escribió:
> Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
>> Ian Burgmyer escribió:
>>> *Speaking of that, what on earth lead to p.o-t.h-v-c.f.f.f and
>>> p.o-t.f.h.b.b.b?! XD
>> WTF! I didn't notice :|
> 
> So haven't I. I can't even find anything like those from the server...

povray.off-topic.fan.haskell.bork.bork.bork
povray.off-topic.haskel-vs-c++.flame.flame.flame

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St. escribió:
>     Yeah, the same as my old Rover 820, dinged slightly on the nearside 
> passenger door, (grrr) but at 14 years old and with only 48,000 *original* 
> miles on the clock, I simply laugh at the broken down newbies on the 
> motorway. They don't make 'em like they used to!  :)

We recently changed our car (well, bought a new one, didn't get rid of 
the old one yet). Old car is one year younger than me (16) and has 65000 
KM. Not miles, kilometers.

My dad considered hacking the clock to *increase* it, otherwise people 
won't believe it's true and would think we hacked it to *decrease* it :)

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Stephen wrote:
>> Heh, I probably wouldn't use an Alienware laptop if one were given to me 
>> (well, I might use it, but I probably wouldn't enjoy it).  Last 
>> Alienware laptop I used got so hot it hurt my legs and its battery life 
>> was so horrid that they should have just left the battery out of the design.
> 
> We must read different books but I do remember that laptop :)

Ohhhh yes, it was a monster.

I got to take my friend's apart once.  He was having serious issues with 
heat dissipation (as in, it wasn't happening at all and his processor 
was hitting temperatures of well over 70C in minutes) so we ripped it 
open, cleaned the dust out of the heatpipe system, cleaned the vents, 
put on some Arctic Silver 5, and threw it back together.  I found out 
that they have an actual socket 478 motherboard in them, at least in the 
earlier designs (they might have switched to a mobile socket type by 
now, who knows).  That thing had a full hyperthreaded Northwood Pentium 
4 3.2GHz in it...completely ridiculous.

The thing completely died a few months after we did that, only lasting 
two years.  I sincerely hope that the newer ones are better than that.

>> My laptop is rather large (hurray, 17" screen!), but it doesn't have a 
>> full-sized keyboard and all.  That would just be excessive. :P
> 
> I don't know about that. It makes a big difference to me.

Oh yeah, no doubt.

I rather like the previous keyboard the Dell used.  My favorite part 
about it is that it puts ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdn in the same 
arrangement as they are on a standard PS/2-style keyboard, using 
half-height keys, above the backspace key.  They also have larger arrows 
than most laptops -- almost full-sized but not quite.  All three of the 
Dells that I use regularly -- my personal machine, my work machine, and 
my mother's machine -- all use that keyboard.

Unfortunately, Dell wound up switching to a different keyboard for their 
newer notebooks (at least the newer Inspirons).  Ah well...

>> Also, pics please.  I'd like to see your little goliath.
> 
> Sorry, no can do. It is a K8T800 motherboard if that helps?

K8T800 is the chipset on the board, actually; it's probably used in both 
mobile and desktop applications.

It does tell me that it's you're using a 64-bit AMD processor, though, 
probably a single-core Athlon 64. :)

> Thanks for that. I think I lost track when they went to 16 bit :)

No problem. :)

I love talking about geeky stuff.

> And the lens don't forget the lens.

That was included with my camera.  $550 paid for a kit containing the 
camera, a lens, some software, USB->mini-USB cable, a battery, a battery 
charger, and the manual.

All I had to buy was the SD card and a bag.

>> Ah well, I'm still going to be in Tampa for about a month and a week, so 
>> it's all good.
> 
> It sounds so exotic :)

The appeal wore off already. :)

Tampa reminds me a lot of Boardman, OH, in a lot of ways.  Even so, I'm 
not about to complain about the weather down here.

Let's just say, my parents are dealing with this:
http://tinyurl.com/yq9alg

I'm "suffering" through this:
http://tinyurl.com/23espb

(both TinyURLs point to accuweather.com)

> That is a long course it must cover a lot?

Yeah, we go over quite a bit.  They also drill a lot of stuff into our 
heads.  Lots of hands-on stuff, soldering to TVs, VCRs, and such, making 
sure our equipment isn't too obvious, doing a little bit of quick 
paperwork...it's kinda fun, really.

We're also covering two different systems, hence the eight week training 
time.

I've only shocked myself twice so far (low voltage, low amperage...no 
worries). ;]

> Is it a campus and do you get out at night? :)

Yessir, and oh yes.

I'm in the campus in Oldsmar, FL.  Here's a night shot of it:

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek04/tw1119/1119aiafl_6nielsen_b.jpg

The part that's sort of rough is that my class hours are 5pm-2am.  Very eww.

Ah well, I have but five weeks left. =)

-- 
-Ian

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Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> 
> povray.off-topic.fan.haskell.bork.bork.bork
> povray.off-topic.haskel-vs-c++.flame.flame.flame

Aaaahh, with Seamonkey checking the groups to subscribe ain't enough -
you'll also have to refresh them manually. That's why I didn't find them
earlier :p.

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
   http://www.zbxt.net
      aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:08:53 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

 
>> We must read different books but I do remember that laptop :)
>
>Ohhhh yes, it was a monster.

There is a generation gap here :) I thought Alienware was a super duper OS from
"elsewhere" :)

>I got to take my friend's apart once.  

When I get a new one I intend to strip down my laptop and clean it till it dies
:)

>
>> And the lens don't forget the lens.
>
>That was included with my camera.  $550 paid for a kit containing the 
>camera, a lens, some software, USB->mini-USB cable, a battery, a battery 
>charger, and the manual.
>
>All I had to buy was the SD card and a bag.

I meant that the production costs of the camera should have a large proportion
allocated to the lens.

>>> Ah well, I'm still going to be in Tampa for about a month and a week, so 
>>> it's all good.
>> 
>> It sounds so exotic :)
>
>The appeal wore off already. :)
>

LOL

>Tampa reminds me a lot of Boardman, OH, in a lot of ways.  Even so, I'm 
>not about to complain about the weather down here.
>
>Let's just say, my parents are dealing with this:
>http://tinyurl.com/yq9alg
>
>I'm "suffering" through this:
>http://tinyurl.com/23espb
>
>(both TinyURLs point to accuweather.com)
>

I'm sure that you can cope :)

>> That is a long course it must cover a lot?
>
>Yeah, we go over quite a bit.  They also drill a lot of stuff into our 
>heads.  Lots of hands-on stuff, soldering to TVs, VCRs, and such, making 
>sure our equipment isn't too obvious, doing a little bit of quick 
>paperwork...it's kinda fun, really.
>
>We're also covering two different systems, hence the eight week training 
>time.
>
>I've only shocked myself twice so far (low voltage, low amperage...no 
>worries). ;]

Respect! :)
Who cares about the voltage? It only hurts. :-)
It certainly wakens you up, though.
"Here and now".

"Here and now".
:)


>> Is it a campus and do you get out at night? :)
>
>Yessir, and oh yes.

:-)

>I'm in the campus in Oldsmar, FL.  Here's a night shot of it:
>
>http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek04/tw1119/1119aiafl_6nielsen_b.jpg
>
>The part that's sort of rough is that my class hours are 5pm-2am.  Very eww.
>

They seem strange hours for a college, to me. I can't believe that studding at
those times would be conducive to understanding. 
I would need to go into "Nightshift" mode. How do you cope with that?

>Ah well, I have but five weeks left. =)

A day less now :)

Regards
	Stephen

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Stephen wrote:
>>> We must read different books but I do remember that laptop :)
>> Ohhhh yes, it was a monster.
> 
> There is a generation gap here :) I thought Alienware was a super duper OS from
> "elsewhere" :)

It kinda sounds like it could be, but no.  They're just really beefy 
computers. :)

>> I got to take my friend's apart once.  
> 
> When I get a new one I intend to strip down my laptop and clean it till it dies
> :)

It's always good to strip them down and blow the dust out of them from 
time to time.  They don't like dust.

Oh yeah, if you do take it apart, I can almost guarantee that you'll 
wind up with stray screws when you put it back together.  I swear, 
laptops have dynamic screw holes; they reposition themselves at will 
just to mess with your head.

> I meant that the production costs of the camera should have a large proportion
> allocated to the lens.

Oh, right.

Now that you mention it, I did end up pricing lenses and...yeah.  Quite 
expensive.

>> I've only shocked myself twice so far (low voltage, low amperage...no 
>> worries). ;]
> 
> Respect! :)
> Who cares about the voltage? It only hurts. :-)
> It certainly wakens you up, though.

Haha, yes.

Thankfully, not a whole lot of amperage in the area that I was working 
on.  Had I touched the power supply while the thing was plugged in, 
well, I might be in trouble.

What's kind of funny about low voltage sources is that they don't even 
hurt, really.  About all you feel are your muscles spasming.  Depending 
on the voltage and all that, you might feel cramps later on (that 
happened all up my arm on my first time, only in my hand for a brief 
time on my second).

>> The part that's sort of rough is that my class hours are 5pm-2am.  Very eww.
> 
> They seem strange hours for a college, to me. I can't believe that studding at
> those times would be conducive to understanding. 

It's not really a college, it's job training.  This is basically my job 
right now.  I can't complain, I get paid to come here. :)

> I would need to go into "Nightshift" mode. How do you cope with that?

It took about a week for my body to adjust, I'd say.  I just started 
going to bed later and later until I'd gotten myself on a 4am-12pm sleep 
schedule (or something along those lines).

It actually took longer for my stomach to adapt.  When I first started I 
suddenly started getting a voracious appetite  Thankfully, it's curbed 
itself back down to normal now. :)

-- 
-Ian

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On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:15:10 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>
>It's always good to strip them down and blow the dust out of them from 
>time to time.  They don't like dust.

Oh! Yes they do :)

>Oh yeah, if you do take it apart, I can almost guarantee that you'll 
>wind up with stray screws when you put it back together.  I swear, 
>laptops have dynamic screw holes; they reposition themselves at will 
>just to mess with your head.

There is a secret to that you know?
I've worked with a few ex-forces types and you can imagine what a couple of lest
over nuts and bolts mean on a war plane :)


>>> I've only shocked myself twice so far (low voltage, low amperage...no 
>>> worries). ;]
>> 
>> Respect! :)
>> Who cares about the voltage? It only hurts. :-)
>> It certainly wakens you up, though.
>
>Haha, yes.
>
>Thankfully, not a whole lot of amperage in the area that I was working 
>on.  Had I touched the power supply while the thing was plugged in, 
>well, I might be in trouble.
>
>What's kind of funny about low voltage sources is that they don't even 
>hurt, really.  About all you feel are your muscles spasming.  Depending 
>on the voltage and all that, you might feel cramps later on (that 
>happened all up my arm on my first time, only in my hand for a brief 
>time on my second).

Try 500 Volt 3 phase F'n Ouch :)

>>> The part that's sort of rough is that my class hours are 5pm-2am.  Very eww.
>> 
>> They seem strange hours for a college, to me. I can't believe that studding at
>> those times would be conducive to understanding. 
>
>It's not really a college, it's job training.  This is basically my job 
>right now.  I can't complain, I get paid to come here. :)

No you can't but is it usual to train during those hours? I've worked
continental shifts (3 shifts per 24 hrs) and day/night shift. I've never heard
of training from 17:00 to 02:00.

>> I would need to go into "Nightshift" mode. How do you cope with that?
>
>It took about a week for my body to adjust, I'd say.  I just started 
>going to bed later and later until I'd gotten myself on a 4am-12pm sleep 
>schedule (or something along those lines).
>
>It actually took longer for my stomach to adapt.  When I first started I 
>suddenly started getting a voracious appetite  Thankfully, it's curbed 
>itself back down to normal now. :)

My stomach comes with me. I eat breakfast when I get up and dinner after work.
Quite a few people I worked with left their stomachs on dayshift. Dinner when
they woke up and breakfast before going to bed. (I'm talking about when I worked
offshore. It is a closed community and you know what everyone is doing.)


Regards
	Stephen

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Stephen wrote:
>> It's always good to strip them down and blow the dust out of them from 
>> time to time.  They don't like dust.
> 
> Oh! Yes they do :)

Well yes, they love sucking it in, they just don't know that it's bad 
for them. :P

>> Oh yeah, if you do take it apart, I can almost guarantee that you'll 
>> wind up with stray screws when you put it back together.  I swear, 
>> laptops have dynamic screw holes; they reposition themselves at will 
>> just to mess with your head.
> 
> There is a secret to that you know?

I'm still discovering the Zen of Dismantling Laptops, so no.

I don't have a problem with Dells so much, mainly because they have 
service manuals on their site, free for public consumption.

The only thing I've ever done was remove the keyboard on mine to blow 
out the gunk between the keys and I've gotta say, it's a lot easier to 
do that on Dells than most of the other laptops I've taken apart.  I've 
taken the keyboard off on a Latitude D610 and my own Inspiron 9300 and 
it's just a matter of taking off the bezel above the keyboard, 
unscrewing a couple of screws, and lifting up the keyboard.  I like it! :)

> I've worked with a few ex-forces types and you can imagine what a couple of lest
> over nuts and bolts mean on a war plane :)

Yes yes, you definitely don't want to be sitting in a cockpit and have 
your plane disassemble itself while you're flying faster than the speed 
of sound. :)

> Try 500 Volt 3 phase F'n Ouch :)

I'll take your word for it, k? ;)

>> It's not really a college, it's job training.  This is basically my job 
>> right now.  I can't complain, I get paid to come here. :)
> 
> No you can't but is it usual to train during those hours? I've worked
> continental shifts (3 shifts per 24 hrs) and day/night shift. I've never heard
> of training from 17:00 to 02:00.

I'm not really sure; this is my only time doing any sort of job training 
like this.

If the class schedules are as packed as they are now, I'm sure it's 
almost a requirement for them.  There are only three or four classrooms 
available, large enough for up to ten students each.  They also recently 
went on a recruiting campaign, so that probably brought forty or fifty 
people down here.

The graduation rate definitely isn't 100%, either; one of the people in 
my class ended up failing tonight.  It was kind of strange how quick it 
was -- we went out for break and when we came back he wasn't there.

>>> I would need to go into "Nightshift" mode. How do you cope with that?
>> It took about a week for my body to adjust, I'd say.  I just started 
>> going to bed later and later until I'd gotten myself on a 4am-12pm sleep 
>> schedule (or something along those lines).
>>
>> It actually took longer for my stomach to adapt.  When I first started I 
>> suddenly started getting a voracious appetite  Thankfully, it's curbed 
>> itself back down to normal now. :)
> 
> My stomach comes with me. I eat breakfast when I get up and dinner after work.
> Quite a few people I worked with left their stomachs on dayshift. Dinner when
> they woke up and breakfast before going to bed. (I'm talking about when I worked
> offshore. It is a closed community and you know what everyone is doing.)

Yeah, it's kind of weird for some people when they change schedules.

The problem that I had was when to eat.  Do I eat before work?  During 
my lunch break?  After work?

Eating two meals seems to work for me.  I eat once before I go in and 
once during my lunch break.  After I get back to the hotel, I act as 
though I'm in my final stretch before bedtime, not eating unless I'm 
really hungry.  It seems to work all right for me.

-- 
-Ian

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On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:33:01 -0500, Ian Burgmyer <spe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:


>I'm still discovering the Zen of Dismantling Laptops, so no.

There is you're problem, it is not Zen. As you take the screws out you place
them in several containers sorted by where you took them from and the order you
dismantled them. That way when you put them back in reverse order you can see if
you have forgotten some and not move on to the next part. Well that's my method
and if I don't have something like an empty component box. I will use a sheet of
white paper and circle and mark the groups. Season to taste :)


>
>> Try 500 Volt 3 phase F'n Ouch :)
>
>I'll take your word for it, k? ;)

Smart :)


>If the class schedules are as packed as they are now, I'm sure it's 
>almost a requirement for them.  There are only three or four classrooms 
>available, large enough for up to ten students each.  

>They also recently 
>went on a recruiting campaign, so that probably brought forty or fifty 
>people down here.

That explains it.


>Yeah, it's kind of weird for some people when they change schedules.
>
>The problem that I had was when to eat.  Do I eat before work?  During 
>my lunch break?  After work?
>
>Eating two meals seems to work for me.  I eat once before I go in and 
>once during my lunch break.  After I get back to the hotel, I act as 
>though I'm in my final stretch before bedtime, not eating unless I'm 
>really hungry.  It seems to work all right for me.

You've found what works for you. Good.

Regards
	Stephen

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Stephen wrote:
>> I'm still discovering the Zen of Dismantling Laptops, so no.
> 
> There is you're problem, it is not Zen. As you take the screws out you place
> them in several containers sorted by where you took them from and the order you
> dismantled them. That way when you put them back in reverse order you can see if
> you have forgotten some and not move on to the next part. Well that's my method
> and if I don't have something like an empty component box. I will use a sheet of
> white paper and circle and mark the groups. Season to taste :)

See, I actually tried doing that once and somehow I still ended up with 
screws left over.  I think IBMs and Compaqs just like to mess with my 
poor head. :(

Oh well, as long as they work properly and don't feel like they're going 
to break in half, I guess it'll be okay, heh. :)

-- 
-Ian

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