Current Events

Some random notes while on the road:
- Plano 3740 Waterproof Utility Box 32-8 is the one we are using for our parts.
- /tmp/gpsdata is where I've been putting the static GPS from Las Vegas
- bring some TZ 1/2 inch tape
- 10 minutes rubidium warm up needs to be in the protocol before you turn on the novatel on the plane

I brewed a Kolsch and a Marzen for Oktoberfest this year… they both are smooth and yummy (and that is before aging!) — David Lloyd Rabine 2008/09/06 13:42

I had a Harp and a Pilsner in honor of the passing of Gary Gygax on March 4th, 2008. You sir, will be missed. (and on vacation: 1 beer (wed), then 2 small glasses (Saturday) of wine and then 3 beers yesterday (Sunday the 30th))

Satellite dish pointing… use this site to figure the location of geosynchronous orbit satellites: http://www.csgnetwork.com/antennasatelazposcalc.html

Short TODO List

Google is hiring (has 900 openings), APL, NASA Civil Service.
DICE High Tech Career Center
Finish your resume and get it reviewed
Fix the drywall in the guest bathroom
Killz and Paint the bathroom
Insulate the fireplace
Fix the leak in your car trunk
Mail Leslie her old photo and a nice letter
Mail Clairibel a LATE card
Blog on wunderground?
Make a building table for your airplane
Begin construction on your plane
Plant some vegetable seeds for a little garden
Fix your computer
Set up an auto-email from the UPS so when the power is off you get an email at least.
Upgrade Archon to Slamd64 v12 (and fix ALL that will break)
Write Elijah Cummings.. NO RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY! (NO ONE is above the law)
CHECK: Dream Theater on ticketmaster DAILY so you can get tickets for May 26th as SOON as they go on sale.
Watch Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Write Grandma a nice card and tell her to expect a baby boy! (send her a late valentine's day card)
Secure both your wireless networks.
Order Tastey Bite Lunches (~~20%~~ 25% off email!) by 2008/02/25
Order APC UPS Battery
Set up PC backup utility (backup pc?) on sage.
Migrate stuff over to the new raid
BRING BACK the USB/IDE/SATA adapter from work.
~~Figure out who you are voting for tomorrow! (do some quick surfing about the board of education and delegates)~~ done. — David Lloyd Rabine 2008/02/12 14:13
~~Wake up early tomorrow and put in all of the drives into sage… you'll be able to configure remotely or whatever.~~ done. — David Lloyd Rabine 2008/02/12 14:13
~~VOTE on Tuesday!~~ done! — David Lloyd Rabine 2008/02/12 14:13

About Me

Photos

All of my photos and videos
Movies of and pertaining to Sylvia

Civic Duty

Jury Duty

Since I've lived in Howard County, I've been very popular with the jury selection computer:

June 2005	Had to phone in, but was never selected to show up.
July 2008	Was selected as the alternate on a DUI case, but wound up on the jury!

Voting

Washington Post had a good voter's guide online. Here is the 2008 Board of Education Link

Hobbies

Airplanes

Live air traffic control feeds can be found here. This is great fun to listen to.
Trade-A-Plane is a great place to spend money you don't have.
Aircraft For Sale Online (ASO) is another great place to spend money you don't have.

Homebuilt

Cozy Mark IV would be my first choice with a DeltaHawk Diesel motor. ( Cozy Forum) (Cozy Builder's Forum)
Vans RV-10 is a great 4 place.

I really like the scale RC airplanes out there, and have always been fascinated with the German aerodynamics of the World War II era. It seemed to be a golden age of innovation and aerospace engineering. After having flown a four cycle Piper Cub that my dad built, I really think four cycles fly more scale than the over powered two cycles. So planes I would love to build:

You can check out ratings of kits here at http://www.rcuniverse.com/:

Do-335 and plans can be had here
Focke-Wolf 190
BF-109
Mitchell B-25
Mitsubishi zero
Mig-15
Curtiss P-40
Junkers Ju87 Stuka Winter Painted Stuka (this Heritage kit looks great)
- http://www.rcvengines.com/gallery/rcv60sp_stuka.htm
- http://webpages.charter.net/rcfu/KitReviews/HeritageStuka.html

Computers

To Do

make a log rotate and archive option for archon (/var is getting big fast)

To Buy

Your PC could use an upgrade… here is my current list for an upgrade
I think I'm going to just get a used laptop, and rig it with more ram & network card: 1 Gig module & ASUS card
This OTHER laptop: Vostro 1500 from dell, has goo everything and Windows Business Vista or XP Pro for $750.
This Asus F3 Series F3KA-A1 looks like a good deal for $1000 laptop. Hmm, This one actually has XP by default (only 1 gig of ram, but you could buy more)
~~When it gets under $500 to buy 2 TB of hard drives… DO IT (-8~~ (it was $629 or so… I couldn't wait)

Notes

To fix a grub (CentOS install) after windows wipes out the MBR… do this

Servers

MythTv Homebrew Project ← My HDTV MythTv HOWTO (for me so I don't forget!)
Sage CentOS 5.1 Setup ← Setup of sage, my CentOS experiment.
Server Configuration notes for my Slackware (slamd64 actually) server install.
Virg's Media Center

Code for Me

Henry Spencer created the 10 Commandments for C Programmers and I highly recommend that you read and abide by them.
http://www.learnopenoffice.org/ ← is a tutorial site for working with Open Office. I don't use it enough to remember things, but this looks like a good set of tutorials that might help you remember.

Code for Work

Gaming

GPS

Novatel SPAN GPS/IMU Processing

Network

Service Providers

For the shore, here is a wireless that dad should be able to get http://www.lsbc.us/

Wiki

Task Plugin Test Page notes

Cooking & Brewing

Beer Brewed
Beer Recipes
Food Recipes
Wines Brewed

Media

TV Remotes and Controls
http://tvworthwatching.com/ ← heard this reviewer on NPR's Fresh Air where he picks some things that are worth watching on television (which he said has been tough since the writer's strike).
Popcorn Hour Media Tank

Money

Fun Facts

Every year around March/April (first quarter) your mortgage payment will increase, and the amount sent to the clearing house account needs to be adjusted to match the new mortgage + T/I (taxes and insurance).
NASA FCU Mortgage will not report late payments to credit bureau unless greater than 30 days late. (so this yearly event will not affect our credit)
Flexible spending account.. you can do $5000 / year total. That's it. (This is a federal cap)
529 College Savings plan can be deducted from your Maryland taxes. ($2500 per child) (Tax Benefits for MD State Tax)

Automobile

Automobile?! (Lake… big lake). I am really waffling about which car should replace my 1997 Honda Civic Ex, but right now the two front runners are the Acura TSX and a Civic Si Sedan (4 door). They're both essentially the newer version of what I have (about the same size, a bit worse on gas… but hey… they're both great cars). I could get a used TSX for not a lot more than a new civic. I think anyway… people don't like the TSX because it is a little weak in the HP department, but I drive like a grandpa anyway.

Honda Civic GX runs on natural gas, and you could fuel it at home off your gas line.
Diesel Version of TSX comes out in 2009. As Marc put it FTW! — 2008/02/08 16:33
Diesel accord in 2010… maybe?! please! — David Lloyd Rabine 2008/05/07 14:29

Energy

Maryland Renewable Energy Home
http://www.energybible.com/ ← good stuff here (energy audit, appliance lists, etc…)

Conservation is the easiest way to cut back on costs and impact. We should upgrade our appliances to be more energy efficient.

washer / dryer
dishwasher
refrigerator

Master list of energy changes / modifications I would like to make:

pellet stove $4k
solar water heater $6k
4kw solar panels $40k
new shingles ?5k?
tankless gas water heater (to heat the solar powered water) $2k

Alternate Fuel Vehicle

To buy the Civic GX, talk to:

I understand you’re interested in a Natural Gas Vehicle.  Try contacting Herson’s Honda.
To my knowledge, they are a dealer who will sell you this car.  You can have it serviced here.

Respectfully

Jason

O’Donnell Honda

CNG Fuel Stations Around 21043
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08031/853554-28.stm ← Honda Civic GX compressed natural gas vehicle. There is a filling station in Columbia, and you can get the FuelMaker PHILL system from: Collazo Contactors Inc. (570) 992 3477 (they are in PA though.. maybe not help you out).
Dealers that sell this vehicle as of today: — David Lloyd Rabine 2008/08/29 09:22
BGE Supports these Compressed Natural Gas stations in Maryland (as of today 2008/07/09):
- Columbia Shell at 9101 Snowden River Pkwy, Columbia, MD 21046
- Millersville Texaco at 8201 Veterans Hwy, Millersville, MD 21108
- Timonium Texaco at 2415 York Rd, Cockeysville, MD 21030
- White Marsh Texaco at 10801 Pulaski Hwy, Baltimore, MD 21162

Automobile Fuel

I read on Slashdot.org about the E-Fuel Microfueler, that allows you to brew Ethanol from sugar at home for roughly $1/gallon if you buy cheap inedible sugar from Mexico. Here is a link:

http://gizmodo.com/384660/e+fuel-microfueler-turns-sugar-stale-beer-into-gas-for-your-ride

Home Heating

Thermostat settings (recommended) from this site: http://www.mge.com/home/saving/thermostat.htm

	Winter	Summer
When you're home	68°	78°
When you're sleeping or not at home	55°*	85°

*Or as low as health permits. Check the owner's manual if turning down the temperature for more than 24 hours.

Here is a good article on pellet stoves (after seeing Matt and Beth's stove here in Astoria (he said they go through a ton a winter ($200)))

Large list of stove manufacturers: http://www.woodpelletstoves.net/pellet-stove-manufacturers.html
Harman Stove dealers near us: http://www.harmanstoves.com/myHarman.asp?zip=21043&id=18&dtype=1
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,1566753-4,00.html
http://pelletheat.org

Solar

Just doing the back of the envelope, and guessing where we'll be down the road (and inverter sizes) I think a 6kW system is probably about what we would want. BP says that's $40k after rebates and tax incentives…

Local companies that can do water and electric install:
Big company BP Home Solar

directtv

SCA

Spiaggia-Levantina

Travel

http://www.kayak.com/ shows you lots of combinations of what airlines will get you from where to where.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ is a great site that has reviews and ratings of hotels that seem real and so far have proved very useful.
http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm - European train travel portal