Olympic Living

Reindeer Jerky

2009-12-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

I just finished making my gift for my family's gift exchange. We have the theme "Make it, Bake it, Sell it, Grow it". So this year I made beef jerky, which I am calling "Reindeer Jerky". In retrospect I should have bought venison or bagged my own deer.

Here is the label that I made:

Which is much better than my first option that I found online:

All for now. I will blog about my new job once I start working. Until then Happy New Year!

Looking for Answers

2009-12-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

Remember when we all thought that AskJeeves.com was a search engine provided answers to our questions, as if it was our personal butler? Those were simpler times. We all swore we would never be fooled again by search engine ad campaigns that over promise and under deliver.

Then came Bing.com, the "Decision Engine". I tried it and was thoroughly unimpressed. All of its features had the "Oh, this is like GoogleMaps" vibe and "Is that a decision helper or another set of pay-per-click ads?" feel.

Google is great, but they have some weaknesses its intuitive search features. Take a look at what Google presumes you will ask:

WHY

HOW

WHO

WHAT

WHEN

WHERE

Autotune

2009-11-15T22:43:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy autotune. It makes almost anything sound like music (even crying babies) . For some of you, hearing a science lecture may even be more abrasive than a crying baby. Symphony of Science takes some retro programs and gives them a fresh sound. Listen to this chopped up Carl Sagan feat. Bill Nye and Stephen Hawking and tell me if it is better than hearing a baby T-pain cry:

I especially like how Bill Nye looks like he is in a 90's Puff Daddy video with the fisheye effects.

If you need something a little more up beat, Auto Tune The News will get you pumped to hear the news:

Halloween

2009-10-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

I finally finished painting the 6ft x 4ft French windows at my grandparent's house. I can't believe such a small area of work took 15 hours to complete. I am just glad that I was not born into window painting family in the 1600s near Versailles. I must give credit to Home Depot for making painting look like so much fun in all of their commercials.

After painting, I carved a pumpkin as the USC v. Oregon game started. I took the following picture after telling the pumpkin the score at the end of the game.

If you are wondering what I was for Halloween...I was a painter.

What's Good?

2009-10-18T21:00:00.001-07:00

I just got into It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and it is out of control funny. If you thought Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm is morally despicable, you have not seen "the gang" from Always Sunny. Check out this site that has almost all the episodes commercial free in good quality: http://itsalwayssunnyepisodes.com/

2389876

I also have to mention Jake and Amir on CollegeHumor.com These guys make about 2 short videos each week.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Finishing Things

2009-10-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

I just took the test that I been waiting on for a year (nailed it) . If it wasn't for my remarkably poor performance on the Fall 2008 AME 404 midterm, things would be very different right now. For one, I wouldn't have an extra set of loans to pay. I also would not be making a long commute into a city I really don't care for.

I am making the best of the situation in the mean time. I going to do my open water dives at Catalina this weekend, completing my SCUBA certification course. I have been fishing regularly. I have been learning to do real BBQ in a smoker. I also will be teaching another Family Science course with Iridescent Learning in a couple weeks. You can see some shots of me in action in the following video.

That is all great, but I am finding that I am always anxious for the next step. For example, summer was great, but I am ready for some fall weather. Same thing with part-time school and part-time work; I am ready to start supporting myself. I want to be an engineer.

After a month and a half of time away from the job search, I am ready to start up again. I learned a lot this summer about finding jobs in a tough economy and I am ready to see how things go now.

Horn Shark vs. Angel Shark

2009-09-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

This is way some amazing footage(0:38 is where it gets good)

SCUBA Class is ON!

2009-09-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

After a week of actively recruiting friends(0% success rate) to take a SCUBA diving course, I just got the call I was looking for. Pacific Sporting Goods just informed me that they were able enroll the minimum number of students for the dive course. This means I leave work at 5pm, drive to Long Beach, grab a quick dinner and start learning the essentials of SCUBA diving. From 6:30 to 10:30pm I will be underwater or sitting through small lectures about Barotrauma, Decompression Sickness, and Nitrogen Narcosis (fun to learn about, not fun to get).

Crescent Bay Diving

2009-09-25T19:49:00.001-07:00

The bro and I went to the Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach for some snorkeling. This actually was the first time that I have ever snorkeled from the mainland. I got used to thinking that Orange County beaches and harbors are silty, dirty and green. I neglected to give South County a chance, despite knowing in the back of my head that it is known for being a great dive spot.

We went out in about 10-15ft visibility with a light-moderate surge. I saw some nice calicos, a big sheephead and schools of shiny baitfish. I dove and swam next to beautiful rock walls with Garibaldi nibbling on the mossy faces.

After getting a little too close for comfort at Seal Rock, we traversed the coast, absolutely pumped to be enjoying one of the prettiest coves in Southern California. Andrew said that the palm trees on the point looked like paradise.

A hammock and some iced water could really make it paradise.

I checked the sandy bottom for halibut but found none. It became more fun to get near the surf zone and ride the surge back and forth floating inches from the constantly resurfacing bottom.

I can't wait to get back out there...especially with some SCUBA gear.

SCUBA Certification

2009-09-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

After work today I am starting a my SCUBA certification course. The course is on Monday and Wednesday nights for 3 weeks. At the end of the course on a Saturday, I get to do 3 out of my 4 open water dives in Catalina. Awesome! The next day I do the beach entry dive in Laguna Beach and I should then certified by the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI).

In no time I should be swimming in schools of tropical neon clad lady divers. . . or at least that's the plan.

Ghetto Scarecrow

2009-09-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

I am always on guard as I walk to my car through the area west of campus. From my experience, this neighborhood has less students and more graffiti than the area north of campus where I used to live. I try to keep the words of Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, in my head as stay "Calm and Assertive" walking by the apparent junk yard with a gnarly pitbull. Sometime I wonder what would happen if the dog could escape and get to me. It is best to not even think about it.

Sometimes, I am surprised as I walk by this house:

That figure on the porch is a dummy wearing a terrorist mask. Almost every other day, this Ghetto Scarecrow doubles my heart rate in a matter of milliseconds as I catch it in the corner of my eye.

I doubt it is even intended to keep hoodlums away. That is what the barbed-wire on a spike fence is for. It may just be an ironic use of a mannequin wearing USC and Disney gear. Either way I don't like it at all.

The Smoker

2009-09-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

I just ate the best meat ever prepared at my house. After 22 years at 4709 Candleberry, I have never had such a satisfying meal.

My dad and I made the move into the world of smoking or BBQing. This is not grilling, or the kind of pool-party sizzle-fest done every 4th of July by every God-fearing, red-blooded American. But don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with grilling...it is just not BBQ. BBQ requires a slow and low indirect heat with wood chips to infuse meats, cheeses, fish, nuts, or fruit with smoky goodness.

We decided on the Masterbuilt 30" electric smokehouse, from Lowes. (below)

This is a great model, referred to as the crock pot of smokers. Because it is electric it can be set to cook at a prescribed temp and time and left alone for amazing results. I can say this because we just cooked 10 lbs of pork ribs for 5 hours with hickory wood chips. The meat was right on par with the award winning, presidential favorite BBQ places I ate at when I was in Arkansas.

After dinner my family sat around, not really speaking, but just blurting out things like, "Smoked Almonds!", "Yeah.", "Applewood smoked bacon!", "Big time.", "Smoked Cheddar!", "mmm."

I have a new hobby that is for sure.

"Pecanwood smoked marshmallows!"

"I want those"

Summer Study Abroad Pictures (B-Sides)

2009-09-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

I am still organizing my laptop and external hard-drive and I came across the pictures from when I studied abroad. Here are some of my non-tourism related shots:

This was the official shirt of of the canyoning guides in Riva del Garda. I really like the idea of illegal time.

I posted a couple weeks ago that I broke the FLSHING pole that I got in Italy. Well here it is, fresh out of the box.

This guy had a pretty rad OC back pack. You have to wonder if he liked Marissa or Summer. If I had to choose, I would say he is a Summer guy.

Do Italians eat pizza? Yes, but we clearly ate it much more than they expected us to.

High Speed Camera Videos

2009-09-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

I just cleaned my room, and now I am cleaning my computer. In the process, I ran across some cool videos that I shot during my senior project.

How Does This Happen?

2009-08-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

This was the only thing I caught on Saturday morning in marine stadium:

That is an actual fish, probably a baby sardine, that I caught using that lure. I snagged its belly on my cast when the hook hit the water. . .Pretty shocking.

What is more shocking is how much I am liking pop music. I am liking it more than my sister, who swoons for acts like Nsync, Hanson, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and O-Town.

One of the songs that is topping my charts is Shakira's SheWolf. The video is out of control for these reasons:

Sick intro with brass on a Daft Punky bass groove.
Robot-with-a-limp combined with pop-and-lock-bellydancing in a ruby cave.
Cage gymnastics in a flesh toned leotard

Today's Lesson: Don't Fish on the Docks

2009-08-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last time I fished from the docks, I had a great day. I caught a leopard shark and walked home with some serious game fish.

Today I fished the docks at Alamitos Bays, looking to catch a bat ray. I ended up catching 3 Long Beach Police Officers and a warning.

There is nothing like hearing an armed officer say, "Sir! Please put the fishing rod down." like it was some sort of weapon. It was a good thing I wasn't cutting bait or it would have been a much scarier, "Sir! Please put down the knife!"

Once I was "un-armed" they started asking me questions. The first one was easy:

Q: What are you doing today?
A: I am fishing. Are you Fish and Game?

then it started getting complicated,

Q: We are with LBPD. Do you have a boat around here?
A: One on gangway 16B.

Q: So you don't have a boat on this gangway. What are you doing here? Did you see the "NO FISHING" signs?
A:I don't have a boat here. I came to fish by the park, but I saw all the signs, so I moved over to the docks.

Q: So you saw the signs?
A: Yes, and I thought it meant I couldn't fish from the walkways, so I picked a spot where I wouldn't bother anyone.

Q: You said you had a boat here, so why aren't you fishing by it.
A: I wanted to fish this spot by the park.

Q: And the boat is in your name?
A: No, It is in my grandparent's name.

Q: Do they know that you use their boat?
A: Yes, they own is specifically so that the grandkids can use it. It is on 16B do you want me to show you?

At this point they probably think I am lying. So I give them a data dump.

Q: What is the name of the boat?
A: Summer Salt II. She is a 31 ft motor-sailor. Slip 634 I think. It is registered to William and Gertrude Carroll. They are my grandparents.

He takes my ID and scans my record.

As it turns out I am clean. I have no criminal record, warrants or parole, and I start class tomorrow. This all adds up to someone who will take a stern warning to heart, so they let me off easy.

One of my Best Weekends

2009-08-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Having just finished my first week of work for Viterbi Admission and Student Affairs and learning that it is my last weekend before school starts, I made sure to make the best of every day this weekend.

Friday night I met up Graham and Brendan in Newport. We did some midnight surfing at 36th. There was no moon, tide or surf but it was an awesome session. This is what is looked like:

The next morning we went out to Harbor House for omelets. Then I went out to fish Newport Bay near a spot called "The Rail". I wanted to catch a spotted bass. I had just learned about spotted bass a week prior so I specifically was hunting for one. After 45 minutes of throwing plastics, I nailed one and released it.

Then for the first time in 6 years, I got new swim trunks. Surprisingly not from Kanvas by Katin(that will be my next pair). I then went to a friend's going away party.

Sunday morning I made plans to go fishing in the Back Bay of Newport with my cousin Michael and my bro Andrew. We fished the docks looking for bat rays, but ended up catching a leopard shark. Andrew had the urge to swim with the shark, so he did.

If that wasn't enough of a good weekend, a boat came to the dock and handed over a yellowtail and two dorado. We rolled up the fish in Andrew's towel:

And to top it all off, I am setting up interviews with an aircraft interior manufacturer and a medical device manufacturer so that I can have a full time engineering job in December.

Not too bad...

Short Term Future Planning

2009-08-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

I came up to USC today to do some work and start figuring out my short term future plans. Today's tasks include financial aid, design work to build marketable skills, and finding a job.

I already found out that I need to come back tomorrow for financial aid.

I am about to start weighing the different options that may or may not be available to me in upcoming weeks/months. This includes living at home, living at school, living wherever a good job takes me, getting a job on campus, getting a labor job, or getting a real engineering job, taking my class in person, or taking my class online.

3 things are important right now.

I need to finish my last class.
I need a place to live.
I need a job.

I am gonna start brainstorming creative housing situations and job styles. I need to come up with a game plan to start charging on right away, but have plenty of fallbacks in place, just in case.

Freak Fish

2009-08-01T11:13:00.001-07:00

I was fishing plastics in the river mouth at Seal Beach, and found 3 fish washed up on the sand, each semi-alive.

This is a lizardfish. It is super slimy and prehistoric looking. Some people where trying to convince me that it was a catfish, but I knew better. Catfish (even the saltwater variety) have a fu manchu like this:
The other fish, below, is one that used to annoy me at Newport Dunes. It is a needlefish, although I have never seen one as big as the one washed up on the beach.

The fish probably could not handle the bathwater type temperatures that the powerplant creates as it cools its generators. I put them out of their misery and used them for bait, fishing for sharks or bat rays.

Logistical Issues(Catalina Canceled)

2009-08-01T10:48:00.001-07:00

I was supposed to sail my relatives over to Catalina this weekend, but for "logistical issues" the trip was canceled. That is as far into the details that I have been told...pretty vague...pretty lame.

I then say screw em, I'll take the boat over with a small 1 or 2 person crew. I already booked some nights to camp in Little Harbor and had visions of spearfishing. But no, they want to go for a day sail on Sunday. Weak.

My Uncle Cliff is in town, so I convinced him to go fishing on the whaler. Smart choice. We had the most productive day of fishing I have had all summer(for him the past 3 years). We pulled in about 10 bass each and other assorted fish. We had another octopus spit onto the deck. We fished the octo-bait but no real hits. The action was on live-anchovies and it was relentless. Here is a shot of Cliff with the knife for a scale(I forgot the measuring tape again) with a nice calico bass.

The action was soo hot that I broke the pole that I got in Italy when I tried fishing on Lago Maggiore. I wish it had broken on a fish hookup, but sadly it was when I snagged the rocks. I found out that the pole was made of carbon fiber, ultra low quality, but carbon non-the-less.

While we were on the water, I saw the Bell Family sailing over to Catalina on Seeker. I yelled out to them and they stopped by the boat for a "stop and chat". I wish that I could have hopped a ride with them, but I had "logistical issues".

Deceitful Job Offer Responses

2009-07-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

I made the mistake of "quick applying" to tons of entry level marketing positions on careerbuilder.com. After talking with countless deceitful people trying to convince me that I will be in management training for their "marketing firm" I started to get annoyed. Now I just have fun with it.

Just to be clear, these semi-legitimate "firms" advertise grand positions with vague business terms and sidestep every serious question I ask. They are tricking people into door to door sales. I do not mind door to door sales as a career choice, I just don't want to be tricked into it.

Here are some of my responses to their ludicrous offers:

Thank you, but after speaking for an hour with my psychic, he suggested that I might not be happy with the position at Central Payment Corporation. I trust his vision and judgement, and he said that because I am an Aquarius born under a half moon this will not work. I really want to interview for the position, but what the psychic says goes.

I am not who you think I am. I am a wizard with capabilities far greater than you could ever imagine. I should not speak about my talents via email, as the galactic government is reading all of my emails(sometimes even my thoughts). If you are truly interested in employing my sometimes unconventional sales tactics, meet me next full moon at the Santa Monica Pier.

I had unexpected personal issues. Sorry for the confusion. I will call you when all charges are cleared.

Engineering Awesome Moment (Thanks Mechoptronics and Senior Project Lab)

2009-07-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

After looking up that the legal size to keep a cabezon is 15 inches, we became curious as to really how big the fish was. We were thinking it may be just about a legal size fish.

As it turns out, with a little photo analysis, simple ratios, and the dreaded Pythagorean Theorem the cabezon is a whopping 24 inches. We used the sinker as our reference length in the plane of the fish. Here are our quick scribbles (which resembles my drafts for engineering assignments before I clean them up):

We double checked the numbers and it looks like my dad landed a pretty rad fish. Do any bored recent grads want to double check my work? The size of the sinker is 27/32 inches.

We let it go, but according to fish and game,

They are one of the most sought-after rocky shore inhabitants.

And if Donald Trump wrote the description

They are the most sought-after, gold-plated, Italian marbled, rocky shore inhabitants money can buy. Really a great fish, all around a truly great fish.

Fishing Report: LB Breakwater 7/19/09

2009-07-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

After receiving the "you need to get a job" talk with my parents, I needed to take my dad fishing and share some of the good life with him. I wanted to make it as easy as possible, so got his reel restrung with some 15lb test and cleaned it. The boat was ready in the water with gas, and all the tackle and tools were ready to go. We had a party at my cousins' house last night, so we went to bed easily when we got home. We left the dock at 5:45am.

Anchovies again and straight to the weather side of the breakwater. My dad pulled in a big sand bass on his first anchovy, and not too much later I pulled in a small calico bass.

My dad landed a big cabezon with an octopus in its mouth. After setting it free, he hooked up the octopus and had a huge hit from probably another rock fish but "farmed" it. My dad said that growing up being called a farmer on the water was a serious putdown.

We then shifted spots and I wanted to fish plastics, so I tossed a color that I have never used before, all red and speckled. I worked 4 calicos into the boat on the red lure.

The live bait was bringing in the bigger fish, but fishing plastics is super fun. Today was the best day of fishing that I have ever had with my dad. It was constant action on different kinds of bait and excellent conditions. I had some fish leftover from lunch on Friday, so we are gonna eat 8 fish tonight.

Keeper Kount brought to you by the folks at Mackerel Hunter:
4 Sand Bass
1 Calico Bass (and 3 released legals)

Fishing Report: LB Breakwater 7/17/09

2009-07-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

Left the dock at 5:30 with my buddy Danny Bluth, Servite '05, same as Wednesday.

At the fuel dock, the bait guy didn't like the fact that we were getting anchovies, while everyone else was getting sardines. Most the boats looked like they were going out for 1+ days of offshore fishing, so sardines were their pick. This meant the bait guy actually had to open the anchovy tank and move his net to a different location. There is no amount of Pabst Blue Ribbon at 6 in the morning that can make that an enjoyable activity. I also found out that if you give the bait guy some hats and a T-shirt from your fishing sponsors, you can cut in front of every boat. Anyone interested in my new venture Mackerel Hunters LLC? We have apparel! We asked for only $10 of anchovies, rather than the $20 I have been accustomed to and found that this was the right amount. The bait stayed alive longer and still had enough dead guys to chum the waters.

Limited by gas, we chose to fish the breakwater just past the bait barges. We fished the inside of the breakwater and hooked into 3 legal sandbass, 1 octopus, and 1 queenfish. We dropped anchor about 5 times, but never pulled more than 1 fish from each spot. There was action, but not as constant as the other side of the breakwater.

We left for the other side of the break water at around 10am. There was a zoo of 3 small boats anchored and 2 more trying to get in all trying to fish the end of the breakwater. Knowing that these goofs probably saw some boats and thought that it was the spot tried to squeeze in. I did not want a fouled anchor and crossed lines, so we went down the breakwater about 100 yards. We anchored 20 yards off the wall and we easily dropping our anchovies into the surging rocks. There was less thick kelp as the bay side, just some light growth, so for the most part we could get our bait into the rocky surge.

The action was hot on this side of the rocks. We were getting constant hits on the anchovies. We experimented with the couple of sardines that made it into our scoop and found that they were awful, which explains why every boat jockeying for position at the end of the wall were skunked and resorting to trolling.

We pulled in lots of calico bass, 1 sand bass, and 1 barracuda. You were either getting caught in the rocks or hooking up on the weather side of the rocks. We ended up running out of bait and tired by about noon.

Plastics and irons were not working, and really not needed because the live bait was so hot. I was working one pole with 10lb test and outfishing Danny on 2 poles with line in the 20lb range. The largest bass was landed on 10lb test.

The Keeper Kount brought to you by the folks at Mackerel Hunter:
4 Calicos
4 Sand Bass (largest 16.5 inches)

Fishing Report: HB Flats 7/15/09

2009-07-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

Went out to HB Flats by the two oil rigs off Bolsa Chica/Huntington Cliffs. At least ten 1/2 day boats and about 20 private boats were working the area past the rigs. We stayed inside by the platforms and had a consistent action. The 1/2 dayers never held a position and we could see that they were not doing well. Barracuda were in the area the day before, but none today.

Picked up sardines from the bait dock with some squid. The live bait did not do well for a couple reasons:

No Pump, only buckets of water
Sardines were a month old
Too much bait
Mixing varieties

Got bait in the water at about 5:20. First sardine hooked a calico withing a minute. Saw color and the calico spit the bait. It was possibly legal sized.

We were plagued the whole day by fighting fish to the boat and as soon as they saw it they spit the bait. We are gonna try again tomorrow with live anchovies. We are hoping to set the hook with some smaller bait that can easily be swallowed.

I snagged a 12 inche halibut jigging a squid head on the white/glow iron by one of the rigs. I got the Tady blue/chrome and worked the surface every now and then. No action on the blue/chrome.

My legal sand bass was caught on fresh dead squid hooked on a 1/4 ounce lead head.

I landed a short sand bass on fresh dead squid.

Sand bass seen but not landed, roughly 5, were all in the possible legal range and all sand bass on either squid or live anchovies.

I filleted my sand bass at home and cooked it on the stove with 1 part olive oil, 1 part butter, and 1 part white wine with bay leaves. It was some of the best fish I have had in a while.

We are heading out tomorrow at about 5am probably back to the flats with frozen squid and live anchovies or small sardines. Hopefully the bite will open up and we can catch our 10 fish limit.

Kayak Fishing (Actually a Complaint About the British System of Units)

2009-07-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

I went kayak fishing with my uncle on Saturday at a man-made island about 1 km of the Ventura coast.

I am glad to use the metric system to describe things. It is so much easier to deal with once you learn it.

Metric System Example: 1000 meters = 1 kilometer

Conversions in the Metric System are elegantly simple. You just need a basic understanding of the decimal system and a couple prefixes and you are set for life. Not too difficult.

British System Example: 5280 feet = 1 mile

What an ugly and arbitrary conversion. This site gives a history of the unit of a mile:

One mile was the distance of a thousand paces: in Latin, mille passus. A pace being 5 feet gives a mile of roughly 5000 feet. The mile acquired its current value of 5280 feet (1760 yards) by the decree of the English parliament during the reign of Elizabeth I. Since this was a legal definition it became known as the statute mile — statute being another word for law.

For the sake of my story about how far the island is offshore,

1 kilometer = 0 .6213 miles (for fairness to the British System let's simplify it to 2/3)

and every American Soccer Mom and Joe Sixpack knows that

2/3 mile = 3520 feet

and every high school graduate in the United States knows that

3520 feet = 1173 1/3 yards

and every NFL player knows

1173 1/3 yards = 9.8 Football Fields (from goal post to goal post).

Finally we have a system of units that everyone can understand and I can finally talk about kayak fishing. But our friends everywhere else in the world won't understand, because what they rightly call "football", a sport that primarily uses the feet, is really "soccer" in America. It is no surprise that the American sport is poorly named.

I am now too tired to write about fishing.

Why didn't I just skip that whole exercise and do this right from the start?

Home Improvements

2009-06-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

As a makeshift job I am doing small repair jobs around the house. It is much easier to ask for money when I have something to show for and it is probably easier for my dad to give money when he sees the door he destroyed fixed.

While I was at school, I missed a comical incident when my dad got locked in his room. Something failed on the door nob and he could not get it open. So from the second story my dad pulled up a care kit of tools selected by my sister and mom. It is likely they gave him the prettiest tools rather than the most functional ones. That is honestly how they think. They recently bought a TV simply because it was white. They had no idea what functionality it had, they just know that it matched the kitchen. So needless to say the tools where probably rust-free and matching the blood red fury in my dad's face.

My dad ended up hacking away at the door with a flat head screwdriver and needle nose pliers until the handle and bolt came out. Great. Now the door is semi functional and completely ugly. This is where I step in.

I was able to to cut out the destroyed part and replace it with some scrap wood I had in the garage. I sanded it, primered, painted it, and rigged it with a new locking handle. Mom said "It looked so great!" and Dad said "It works!".

With Mother Form and Father Function happy, I can now pridefully ask for some money.

My next project will be installing a tile floor in their bathroom. Yeah...I'm that poor right now.

Old People and Technology

2009-06-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

My grandparents have some pretty nice technology, but sometimes they just don't know what to do with it. They have a 60 inch flat screen and a nice Blu-Ray player with iPod dock, but they just watch Larry King Live with it.

My grandpa now has an iPhone. I am not kidding when I say this, but he likes the manual more than the actual phone. Weird, because via the iPhone one can pull up the same manual online...but for whatever reason he prefers the manual. I ask him how the iPhone is going and he says

Just great! I just got to the chapter on music downloading.

To his defense he is actually learning the technology and using it, not in a very practical sense, rather as proof of concept. Not bad for an 85 year old. He is downloading music, mainly opera (Madam Butterfly and Nessun Dorma). He sends text messages sporadically to the grandkids

I bet you didn't think I could text!

He still needs to learn about how awesome the internet is from a desktop before he can realize the beauty of accessing it on a phone. He would love to read every newspaper in print, but he does not know that it can be a reality. He loves old math texts but a niche search engine, even if it is offered by Google like GoogleScholar or GoogleBooks, is just beyond his reach.

I am starting to think that we need technology that speaks ordinary language to its users. One great example of this is the Harmony One remote control. It is a smart remote, not a regular programmable multi-remote, that performs actions like "Watch TV", "Watch Movie", or "Listen to Music". Anyone who has ever networked a home stereo know what controls do what and the functions and limitations of each peice of electronic equipment. To my mom or grandparents they just scream to the closest person

I just want to watch the 10 o'clock news!

rather than learning how everything works. This remote takes care of them. Press "Watch TV" and it:

Turns on the TV
Puts it on the correct input
Turns on the stereo
Puts the stereo on the correct setting(complete with best surround sound setting...but they don't know that)
Customizes the remote for the specific action

I think a quick training on signal inputs and outputs would solve everybody's problems. It involves a quick flow chart of where the video and audio signal come from(CD, DVD, CABLE, DVR, etc) Then break down what devices pass the signal. And finally show how a signal is outputted via speakers and TV screen.

Its that easy.

Fishing not Catching

2009-06-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

I went out fishing last night on Summer Salt II and the night before on the south breakwater at Seal Beach. I always have fun getting ready, picking what kind of fish to go after, which gear to bring, what bait to use, etc. I run into the tackle shop to get bait and a quick pep talk from the guy at the counter,

"...You know a buddy of mine just caught a 20lb. halibut there with the exact setup your using."

Despite friends of the tackle guy catching fish, I did not catch any. Getting skunked 2 night in a row is not fun. I got some got nibbles and some molested bait, but no fish. Fishing is fun, but it can be frustrating.

I might go out to the grunion run next week and check out all the fish making babies on the sand.
If I am really feeling down on my luck, I may just grabs hands full of grunion and yell to the heavens "I CAN CATCH FISH!"

Change of Location

2009-06-10T01:22:00.000-07:00

This is where I will be blogging from now on. I am leaving behind the Viterbi blog and I am moving on.

Here is my final post from the Viterbi Student Blogs:

I graduated from USC about a month ago and things are great. I am super close to getting a job. I have done lots of small trips and vacations. I hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite and I just got back from hanging with family in Arkansas.

I have been asked many times by parents on behalf of their high school seniors if I would go to USC all over again or go to another school. My answer is honest and is "Yes, I would do it all again."

I have developed personally in so many aspects of my life: academics, leadership, communication, relationships, and goals. I am so proud of what I have accomplished on the Aero Design Team. I have learned so much about myself and others as a Viterbi Student Ambassador and a Freshman Academy Coach. I discovered my passion for teaching science and engineering through Iridescent Learning.

I am equally proud of my friends. They have been role models to me in so many ways. They are motivated to succeed and all manage to achieve their goals in their own unique ways. We all have different traits, strengths and weakness, that allowed for some really great memories. In class, at football games, at the dorms, in computer labs at 4am, in the ADT lab, on roadtrips, on retreats, on spring break, and in other countries, I have had truly amazing moments with so many great people. I would not be the person I am today without the support and guidance of my friends at USC.

I am now moving on the next phase in my life. I will be starting my career as an engineer. I will spend time doing the things I like to do: surfing, fishing, sailing, woodworking, making planes, and cooking (no real surprises here). I look forward to constantly learning new things and meeting new people. If the past is any indication of the future, things are looking pretty good.

Look forward to more posts here at thedanorr.blogspot.com

Dan

I Do Not Blog Here

2008-05-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

I just use this to comment on other blogs...

Check out my current blog at:

vTHiNK

Enjoy,
Dan