I think what I fondly refer to as my laboratory might not classify as a true lab, per se. I have some sweet stuff going for me in my garage workspace…but the lack of lab equipment might leave me with more of a nerd fortress, and less of a lab. Here is a quick pic: While most of my projects are electronic in nature, I still get down and dirty with some mechanical projects. Woodworking, too, and of course programming. I would for sure benefit from a laboratory apparatus or two, in order to establish some lab credibility. Those above links are to Lab Planet…which I stumbled across while looking for some equipment. I was looking into a dry ice machine, which they have, and saw that they have scores of sweet equipment. Centrifuges, microscopes, furnaces…even mass spec stuff. How sweet would my Arduino projects be with a touch of chemistry?

1) Get this stuff 2) Put it like this 3) Smash the crap out of the metal thing with the framing hammer, until stuck 4) Remove metal thing and ring with vice grips, awl, 2x4, and framing hammer…throw thumbs up.

Worst idea I’ve had in quite some time…hot dog sandwich. Here is how you make a retarded hot dog sandwich, in case you feel a need to wreck your guts, feed a prisoner, lose your job, etc. 1) Halve some h dogs. 2) Pan fry said h dogs. 3) Assemble sandwich. I went for pickles and spicy brown mustard on my stupid sandwich. Feel free to dump whatever you have in the fridge on that sonofabitch…I don’t think it really matters. Wrap-up: h dog sandwiches taste like fail.

Times are still tough. Our economy is still a wreck. Foreclosures are still rampant; however, there is no need to give up your livelihood. When push comes to shove, why take a hit and declare bankruptcy, when you can just as easily do a little home loan modification and get your expenditures back in line with your income. Enter American Residential Law Group. This is their bread and butter. Regardless of how unlikely it seems that you will keep your home, these guys will go to bat for you. Experience goes a long ways…especially when things are in flux as they are currently. Give them a shot…it will work out.

I snapped this pic from work (in Four Corners) about twenty minutes before hell wrought down fury upon Bozeman, Montana in the form of large hail. Hail dents the size of Matzah Balls. Details will follow.

So there I find myself, shopping for watches. Granted, my cellphone has been my primary time keeping device for well over a decade, but every once in a while I find myself looking to accesorize. Watches, why not? Don’t judge me. Function plus style. Multitasking? You cannot go wrong with a watch. So, I have been poking around a bit, and at first, I had my eye on this jacques lemans watch I found online at bluedial.com: Right? Pretty minimal…sleek…bling-ish? Well, hold your breath. I then stumbled across this guy, also by Jacque Lemans Tell me that doesn’t look like a robot head. I dare you…tell me. Regardless, bluedial has all sorts of brands, if robot head watches aren’t your thing. If they aren’t, you are completely out of your mind, for what it is worth. Most likely, I will continue to use the smartphone as my timepiece. Still waiting on my Droid Incredible, which should have the most awesome time app in the histories of both apps and time. There still exists a soft spot in my heart for a good, old fashioned watch…maybe if the Incredible looked more robotic, that would cease to be the case.

How many desk drawers do you actually utilize on a daily basis at a software development company? ***Spoiler alert…effin zero*** Extra drawer overload…what to do? Food, for the win.

It would be pretty unlikely, given my history blogging and working in the software development field, that I would not be a computer guy. Quite unlikely, and utterly false, for the record. I too am a huge fan of forensics. Kate and I have nearly worn out our old CRT TV upstairs in the bedroom watching Forensic Files on TrueTV. Can’t get enough of crime fighting science nerds. Saving the day with technology…pretty much my dream job. Combine those observations, and it is a natural assumption that I would be all about Computer Forensics, and that would also be a valid inference. Maybe someday, I can use my mad skills to serve the purpose of expert witness in a sweet cyber crime…until then, I’ll be cranking out oddly-filtered images using the Gimp: Remember the story from a month or so ago about the data exposure linked to printer hard drives shipped to China? Case in point…e-discovery is a huge concern currently. I’ll admit it, I had never thought twice about ‘what happens when you send a document to print’ until that hit the media. Even though the print jobs are not visible after a time on the printer itself, anyone with half a brain would think that said info could be retrieved. This is the realm of computer forensics professionals…yank that drive and get to work…all completely retrievable, until the drive is juiced and files need to be overwritten. Case in point, make no assumptions regarding what is assumed to be secure. I stumbled upon Elluma Discovery while checking into the field a bit. They are computer forensics specialists…providing expert witnesses in e-discovery all over the place. How all over the place? The examiners in question have testified in State and Federal Courts, at arbitrations, mediations, and depositions. I’m jealous. I just use my skills to make sure lenders give credit where appropriate. If I end up in court in my current position, I have done something grossly wrong. Grossly. Maybe Elluma is hiring…I could mix my computer skills with my firearms skills. Concealed carrying forensics tech? FOR THE WIN, SON.

Amusing Amazon order time… Arduino Ethernet shield, and a ring stretching tool. Go figure. Both respective projects will be well documented.

I really wish I had a boat. There is not much that fills me with a sense of Americana than seeing an old wooden boat flying the Stars and Stripes. I’m not certain what it is about US Flags on boats, but it is pretty awesome. To a lesser degree, I take great pride in seeing American Flags on front porches. The good old Red White and Blue almost chokes me up…so too (to a lesser extent) do car flags, but that is a topic for later discussion. I’d love nothing more, than to be out on Fort Peck or Canyon Ferry on a boat of some nature, cruising along with a flag cracking in the breeze. I could easily afford a Jet Ski, but the whole flag effect would be diminished. Maybe jury rig a car flag onto the handle bars of an old stand-up machine…doesn’t really have the same effect or street credibility as you can exude if you are a boat owner. Our plans for this Fourth are still yet undecided. You had better believe that I will have a flag next to the Bell camper, and a cooler full of tasty OML. Maybe a few hot dogs…if there is room.