Creuzer

Conundrum

2010-03-09T18:31:00.002-05:00

I have a problem.
Blogger is halting publishing over FTP soon.

I publish this blogger blog over FTP so I have access to PHP in my template. This allows me to do a few things, like have my own static content, but most importantly, my interleaved twitter feed into the blog content on the main page.

I use a lot of google tools, such as picassa, google reader, etc. and they all have tight blogger integration. It makes things easy.

I tweet more then I blog now days, so having the unified tweet/blog timeline is the coolest feature of my blog right now. The little 'widget' on the side bar just doesn't cut it for me.

If I switch to hosted blogger, I will lose the ability to tweet to my blog. I suppose I could have the RSS feed of my tweets posted to my blog, but I am not sure I like that idea. I like being able to format my tweets they way I like to. I don't want them to appear as just another blog post.

I could switch to something like Wordpress, and write my own module that does the twitter tweets on the home page like how I want, but then I loose the easy of publishing using google tools.

I suppose I could possibly have a blogger blog set up and have the wordpress blog consume and publish off of the RSS feed. I would need to have a 'blank' template with a redirect to the wordpress blog then. I'd have to be careful not to get dinged by google for doing 'blackhat SEO' type stuff though.

So, I am stuck. I have a clock that's ticking, no time to actually DO anything about it, and no clue which path to take!

Any ideas, suggestions?

Leather Wrapped Travel Journal

2010-02-28T14:58:00.003-05:00

I have been wanting a leather wrapped travel journal for a long time now. I could never find one that I liked however.
Yesterday, I bit the bullet, and bought a leather journal, and some graph paper pads the same size. I then took my brand new journal apart, with a knife, and put it back together again with my modifications.

I forgot to take a photo of the journal before I attacked it with my knife. So, you get to see it tore apart. I cut the strings at the knots, after I had written down the order I thought they had sewn it in.

Here is a new pads on top of a pad that came with the journal.

I sewed it together with 35lb braided fishing line that I colored with a permanent marker. I just held the marker in my knees and ran the line back and forth twisting it so it got colored on all the sides. Be careful not to pull too hard, or you can cut the tip off of your marker. (I knew this, and was gentile, no damage done!)

I used a #1 Milliner needle to sew the book back together. I used the lighter as a thimble to push the needle through the paper and leather. It was also useful for heat-singing the ends of the line.

Here is the finished book! Looks pretty sharp, doesn't it? You can see the stitches on the spine. I didn't figure the stitching order right, as I missed a section on the outside in the back. I am guessing that few hundred years ago, anybody literate knew how to sew these together.

And the pages inside.

I think I may try to tool the cover somehow. Brian gave me a meat-brand so I can brand steaks, but I think I may use that to emboss my name on the cover. Not sure how branding the name will look?

When I do this again, I think I will get just get regular paper refills, cut, fold, punch, stitch and trim the pages my self. It will be much cheaper. But, having seen how these pads where assembled, it's a good to buy them once.

Hungry?

2010-02-23T19:34:00.000-05:00

I don't know what to say about this photo...

Sliding Glass Door Insulation

2010-01-14T07:46:00.000-05:00

I have a leaky sliding glass door. No, water doesn't poor in every time it rains, cold air comes in. I don't know why, by my apartment sucks - it pulls air in from the outside.

So, I decided to insulate my sliding glass door. I looked at the sliding glass door insulation kits for $13, but that renders the door useless. I thought about doing just the glass, but that doesn't really stop the leaks, just reduces the cold air falling off the window from being in contact with such a large, cold surface.

So, I build a double pain, plastic door.

Using my favorite stuff... Duct tape!

I used a bit of scrap lumber I had to build the frame. I had kept a bundle of edge that got trimmed of some one-by at some point in the past.

The joints are just duct taped together. This is a temporary structure, so it's fine by me.

I created a duct tape hinge by leaving a gap in the wood when I taped it together. This allows the joint to hinge. Clever, I think.

I have moved this messed up roll of double sided tape, foam weather stripping from WI, to FL, to IL. I am such a packrat. It is a sickness. I can make cool things by scrounging around in a closet. **grin**

Here, I have the whole set up installed. The window isn't usable for looking out anymore, but that's not a big deal, the drainage ditch in the yard and street aren't that grand of a vista anyhow.

I used some small hooks to hold my contraption to the wall. I just screw them down until I can twist them and they will hold the frame snug. I used the weather stripping for both sealing and also shimming the frame out so the hooks would hold it snuggly. I put these around the right hand half, including on top.

On the left hand side, by the slider, I put just a single hook. I use this as the 'latch' as I can give it a quick twist, and the frame can open up on my duct-tape hinges. I can now use the sliding glass door, even though it's covered in 2 layers of plastic sheeting.

How cool is that? (ugly as sin, too, isn't it?)

The blinds close to hide the whole thing, so it look just fine from the inside.

Finishing the TV antenna

2009-12-29T00:00:00.001-05:00

While I was at my parents, and making my cat annoyer, I also made the backplane to my TV antenna. This is just a reflector for the antenna to give it better gain.
It's actually a little short, but I didn't want to pay the $6 difference for the taller wire mesh.

It needs to all turn white or something, as it's visually kinda dominating the room.

It needs to be tipped away from the wall a little bit to get the right angle to point towards Chicagot to get the towers. It does reject Rockford and DeKalb stations quite strongly though, but alas, that's it's design.

Cat Food Tray

2009-12-28T20:11:00.002-05:00

My cat, Brother, has a habit that drives my wife crazy. He scoops the food out of his feeder, onto the floor and eats it off the floor. Well, some of it.

So I made a cat food tray to put the feeder on top of. It will catch the food and allow us to pour it back into the feeder.

Not to bad for not taking any measurements. It's a tad long, but not too bad.

And he likes it. It's gonna frustrate him to no end, but he will eat off of it.

Extra weight for traction

2009-12-21T19:00:00.001-05:00

I saw this set up and thought it was clever. The city put concrete barricades into the back of the utility trucks for traction last week when it was so slippery.

marble chess aquarium decoration

2009-12-20T20:51:00.000-05:00

I was at a thrift store last weekend, and found this lousy marble chess set for $3.83. Square cut pieces, lots of chips and broken off bits, but it was all there.
I thought it would be perfect in one of my fish tanks.

What do you think?

The office at night.

2009-12-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

I wandered over to the office tonight, in the snow and cold. I took a photo. What do you think?

Pantry Pizza

2009-11-24T21:48:00.004-05:00

Tonight, I just felt in the mood for Pizza. It's raining out, my wife has the Trucklet, and I just felt like pizza.

I call tonight's creation Pantry Pizza, well, because, I got it out of the pantry. Kinda an odd place to keep a pizza I know, but, it is what it is.
Lot's of good stuff in this pizza! Whole wheat flour, olives, mushrooms, and... could it be... Secret Ingredient #3? Yes! Corned Beef! I coulda made BBQ Chicken Pantry Pizza, or Pepporoni Pantry Pizza, or Beef Summer Sausage Pantry Pizza or Genoa Salami Pantry Pizza or even Dried Beef Pantry Pizza (not doing Tuna Fish Pantry Pizza, sorry), but tonight I went with the Corned Beef. A most excellent choice!

I even had bell peppers on this pizza! I put some dehydrated bell peppers in a bowl of warm water to re-hydrate. I was quite impressed with them after I fried them up a little bit.

I sauteed most of the onions, putting some raw ones right in the sauce for a bit of variety. I love garlic, so it got browned a bit in my cast iron pan. (actually, it's the lid to my dutch oven, but don't tell it that, you would break it's little cast iron heart!)

Lots of good stuff in the sauce. It turned out very good, if a bit acidic. I added more sugar then this to it, but it ended up a tad sweet but acidic. Any suggestions on de-acidifying tomatoes from a can?

Hmm... Corned Beef! Mushrooms and bell peppers too!!!

The pizza crust looks yummy, doesn't it? The extra got tossed in the freezer for another day. The dough is half "white wheat" flour and half unbleached all purpose flour. I think I am a big fan of this white-wheat flour.

The toppings look all nice and tastey, don't they?

Don't let my wife tell you I make a mess in the kitchen, it is simply true! My cheese exploded all over the counter and floor. I think this was my penance for using something from the fridge and not the pantry. There aren't many pantry-stable cheeses I would want to eat. I do wish I had a good root cellar, or cheese aging cave, but that's for a different reality - one where I am not making pantry pizza, so it's kinda defeating the purpose anyhow.

That crust looks pretty good after being blind baked, doesn't it? I don't have a batch of blind baking beans (they ended up in a neck hot-pad), so it's kinda bubbly in the middle. I have a pizza stone I just leave in the oven all the time, so this got baked off on the stone.

That's some darn good looking sauce! The chunks make it a bit difficult to swirl around evenly, but the taste more then makes up for it!

Full toppings, ready for some cheese!

And the final product! 1 perfect pantry pizza! 2 out of 2 people said it's the best pizza they had all day. One person even said it's good pizza even though they don't like pizza.

Anybody want the leftovers? It's more then I can eat!

New Pen Zebra F-301 Compact

2009-11-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

I read about pens that are shorter then normal when closed. I wanted one. I found one at Walmart on Saterday - well, a 2 pack.

You can see how it's a little shorter then normal when closed (on the bottom in the photo) so it will fit in my pocket better.

Here, you can see how the pen cap is very long, and the pen goes deep into it.

I took the belt clip off, and wrapped the cap barrel with a length of duct tape. i love carrying duct tape with me every where I go. Handy stuff!

The tape doesn't interfere with writing.

New Flashlight - NEBO AT09J

2009-11-18T20:04:00.000-05:00

(FYI, I have a flashlight fetish, just so you know)

I've carried a little pen flashlight around in my pocket for a while now (on the right in the photo). I keep a few feet of duct tape wrapped around it.

I've been happy with it for what it is. A cheap LED flash-light that I always have on my person. It takes a AAA battery, which has lasted for a year now maybe?

It's good for a few feet - 5-10 feet. Great for finding stuff in the dark, making sure I don't trip and fall at night, etc. It won't reach across the warehouse at work though, so I can't make sure nobody is in there when I lock up at night if I am the last one there.

I found a new flashlight Sunday that looks pretty good. It was $10, so not cheap, but not expensive either. It's all metal construction with o-rings, so it should be pretty water resistant. It takes a AA battery, so it's easy to replace the battery.
It said it's 35 lumens, and it's MUCH brighter then my old one. It's shorter, but wider, so it will fit in my pocket a little better.

The power button is recessed in the end, which is good, it's less likely to get turned on while in my pocket. The button is glow in the dark, which is kinda funny, because it needs light to charge. Oh well.

The one thing with this light, is that it is too short for wrapping duct tape around it. The rubber middle can slide off, and that looks to be the same size as electrical tape, so I may wrap a few feet of electrical tape around it. It will work the same as the rubber grip, and be more useful.

Free Wifi

2009-11-17T20:34:00.000-05:00

When I was vacationing in Florida, I saw that the state is offering Free WiFi in it's rest areas.

They have these trailers that they pull in and park on the premises. They look pretty slick. Generator, satellite dish, telescoping antenna, etc.

I guess this is who makes the trailers.

it looks like the antenna can get cranked up 4-5 times higher then it currently is sitting.

My new knife: Buck Knives - Vantage™ - Select Small

2009-11-16T19:51:00.000-05:00

While on vacation in Florida, my "souvenir" of the trip was a new pocket knife. I had broke my old one months ago - this spring actually.

I picked a ~$30 Buck Knife even though the place had some really nice Benchmade knifes. I can stand loosing a $30 knife a lot more then a $130 knife.

I picked this one for several reasons even though it's really 1 finger short for my hand.

It can be opened with one hand. This one is cool because it can be done either with the notch cut in the back of the blade as well as the little knob that can be used to flick the knife open very fast.

The belt clip can be removed on this one as it's bolted on instead of riveted on.

I intentionally picked a shorter blade, only 2.5 inches long. I live in a Chicago Suburb. Chicago is a bit touched in the head.

I did make one small modification to the knife. I added a very small magent to the back of the knife. I put it on the belt clip with enough room to be able to remove the clip still if I needed to. I used a touch of JB weld to hold it on even though the magnet will hold itself on.

The magnet is strong enough to hold the knife up if placed on metal. The real reason I put it on though is to check to see if metals are magnetic or not. Dad and I where wanting to check to see if a painted metal was steel or not. I didn't have a magnet with at the time. I do now.

Burnt out florescent lamp

2009-11-16T19:38:00.000-05:00

The living room light burnt out last week. This weekend, I picked up a new 3-way bulb for it. When I went to take the old one out, look what I found.

It looks a we-bit shot. Broken. I wonder if this is a fire hazard?

Hey... I did their website!

2009-11-16T18:26:00.000-05:00

Wow! Talk about a blast from the past! What are the odds that I find a google adwords ad on my blog linking to a website I worked on about 5 years ago? I guess they liked my work, they are still using it.
That just made my day...

Beaver

2009-11-15T22:46:00.003-05:00

I can across a beaver pond today. It's pretty amazing how cleanly a rodent can cut down a tree and drag it away into a pond. The only signs of the beaver's activities are a few stumps, some shavings right around the stumps, and a remarkably small trail to the pond for the size of the trees it was dragging off.

I think this tree is going to be hauled off pretty soon. You can see the beaver already took another tree away in the background.

This was a BIG tree the beaver brought down. Looks to have been done a while ago, maybe a different beaver? The top of the tree had been cut afterwards with a chainsaw as the beaver had dropped this tree into the pond and was covering up a park path. I wonder how hard that fencepost was on the teeth?

The tree in the background is getting quite chewed up. Beavers eat the inner bark of the tree. I wonder if this one fell the wrong way, so it wasn't dragged to the pond?

I went for a walk today

2009-11-15T22:33:00.003-05:00

I went for a walk in a nearby park today. A lovely day for a walk! Mid 40s, slight wind. There where PILES of people out walking their dogs.

I came across this tree with a pipe through it. I wonder how long it took for the tree to grow around the pipe like that?

I like this time of year, with the milkweed plants opening up.

Milkweed puffs on the grass.

I kinda liked this tree.

Please Dry off before entering BLOG

2009-11-14T22:24:00.000-05:00

I saw this sign at the condo I was staying at in Florida a while ago. I found it quite humurous. I know they are shortening the word "building" but it sure does look like blog!

So, No reading this blog while still wet! Remember water and your computer probably don't mix.

Eye-Fi Share Video

2009-10-31T14:13:00.004-05:00

Last night, I picked up an Eye-Fi Share Video SDHC memory card. I have a couple of ideas I am kicking around and this device is a large part of what would make it work.

Anyway, I went to test my card in my Cheap-as-they-get HD video camera. It works... kinda.
Both of the following photos where taken using the camera and the new memory card. The photos automagically showed up on my computer, and Picassa detected them almost immediately. So VERY cool!!!

Brother, being Brother. This is how he lays in the living room on the floor.

Tra-Shcan swimming around. The other two jumped the tank, so it's just this one. I think he's looking for his buddies.

The problem is with my ultra-cheap generic camera. It doesn't have enough power to run both the camera and the new memory card. Every time I take a photo, the Eye-Fi connects to the network and uploads the photo. This causes the power to my camera to drop, and the camera reboots. Twice.

Other then that, it works fine. The memory card can still get the photos copied off. Video works too. The camera HATES that though, the screen goes all wonky, blacks out, fun stuff like that.

I was thinking of investing into a good video camera in the next 6 months anyhow, so compatibility with the Eye-Fi will be on the required feature list.

Helping a friend move and a challenging box-spring

2009-10-25T18:36:00.002-05:00

Saturday, I was helping some friends move. I must say, this was the best 'hard move' I have ever helped with. There where stairs and hard corners at both locations. A lot of big, heavy, and fragile stuff. We filled a cattle trailer and several vehicles with stuff.

What made it so easy was that everything was already packed up, and we had a ton of people!

We did have a slight problem with the queen sized box spring though. It was too big. It wouldn't go up the stairs. So after most people left, three of us declared war on this stubborn item, and pushed really hard. We got it up the stairs!

CVS is looking to start unpacking the cattle trailer we moved most of the stuff in. Actually, it's a good moving trailer, I was quite surprised.

The Box Spring wouldn't fit up the steps, so Scott started to take the trim off the walls to see if we could gain enough extra clearance to get it through. Nope.

With some modifications to the bed as well as the ceiling, we where able to get it to fit. We had to take a small chunk out. The trim covers the hole, so it will be invisible when done.

Here you can see the box spring. We unstapled the covering, rolled it back and attacked it with a pry bar and saws-all. We took the one side board right off, and cut all the cross members as close to the edge of the springs as we dared. We could hook the first and last boards around the ceiling, but needed to push hard to get the cut bits through our slot we cut.

We replaced the factory board with a much wider board that we screwed on so it presented the same bottom profile as the original. The extra width let us screw to the shorter cross members.

Tracing the ends so the round corners are the same, and using a wood rasp to make it so the cloth was easier to pull back over, we now have a solid bottom again.

All put back together, as good as new! Better even, because now it's upstairs instead of stuck downstairs.

Stolen GPS

2009-10-22T22:29:00.007-05:00

Last night my GPS was stolen out of my trucklet.

Entirely my fault to!

I had picked up a few essentials at WalMart, unlocked all the doors and put them in the back seat. I was waiting on a guy to get home so I could pick up an Oscar fish from FreeCycle. I called him, still at work, so I decided to wander around Walmart to kill some time until he got off work.

I locked my door how I always do. The lock touches my knuckle when I open the door, so I just lock it as I push the door open. Quick, Easy, and I always lock the door when I get out of my vehicle. The trucklet locks all the doors every time you drive it, so all is good in the world. Except, I had unlocked all doors since I had last driven. DOH!

Somebody musta tried the passenger side door and grabbed my GPS. Nothing else. Not the Nokia 770, bluetooth headsets, power inverter, winter coat with radio scanner, FM power transmitter, etc. Just the GPS.

I called the cops, filed a report. We where hoping that Walmart security camera got it on film. Nope.

I went home to get the serial number so they could check with craigslist & pawnshops.

You know how I am a packrat. I keep everything. Boxes included. Wouldn't you know, I tossed the box a month ago? I kept all the paperwork, expecting the serial number and such to be on the warranty card, etc. No card, no serial number. How frustrating.

There could be several lessons learned here:

Don't leave GPS out in plain site
Always lock all the doors and not just mine
Never, ever throw anything away. Ever. I always seem to need it a month later.
Keep a google spreadsheet document with all the serial numbers of all the electronics I have.

So, I have a problem and I intend to fix it.

Wouldn't it be cool if the GPS could tell me where it is.
Wouldn't it be cool if I could take my own photo of the theif?

This got me to thinking...

I've been wanting to build a security system for my trucklet ever since the 'OEM' unit was installed in mine. It royaly sucks!

I haven't done it because it would be pretty spendy - I really want a cell based internet connection for it so I can ask the truck where it is, it can tell me where it is, and send me photos of who's driving it, etc. I can't justify $50 a month for a internet connection even if I can use google maps on the fly on a computer I would replace the stereo with.

A little thinking 'outside' the box, I think I found my solution. It's 2 peices, but I didn't find anybody that has put them together like I want to.

An Eye-Fi Pro is an SDHC memory card with a built wi-fi card. It will take photos that are saved to it, geocode them, and upload them. How cool is that? You don't have to stick the card into the computer to get your photos.
For $15 a year, it will connect to a paid, public wifi connections including the ones at McDonalds. My data-plan woes are now addressed, $15 a year is very reasonable!

The other half is the camera. A search revealed the following.

A Defender STEALTH1 Covert Security DVR w/ Hidden Surveillance Camera. It is a motion detector with a built in camera. It can take photos and video which it saves the the memory card.

The freaking awesomeness comes when you combine the two together. You now have a motion detection surveillance camera that automatically uploads photos to a place where you can see them when your away from home. No wires to run half way across the house, just plug it into the nearest power outlet. It can email, text, or even twitter you when it's triggered. It runs for 17 hours on battery if the power goes out. Put your modem and router on a battery back up, and your set!

How sweet is that?

I got to thinking, all the motion detector is, is a hunter's trail camera in a house-friendly looking enclosure.

I can get one of these for the trucklet instead. I was going to shell the camera unit out and install it into the dash anyhow, so why not use a cheaper camera that does the same thing?

So, for around $260 I can either build a really slick house security camera or one that I can cut into the dash of my trucklet that works anywhere.

Home

Features:

Nice looking 'normal' security motion sensor.
Automatic uploading of photos/video using home network.
Ability to view photos even if home computer or security camera itself is stolen!
Notification of events via email, text, twitter.

Vehicle

Features:

Less expensive camera that I can take apart to install into vehicle
Automatic uploading of photos/video using home network or any of 10,000 public wifi accesspoints.
Geocoding of photos.
Ability to view photos even if they steal the vehicle - they just need to slowly drive/park near a wifi access point.
Notification of events via email, text, twitter.

Now, to find a few extra hundred dollars, because I need a GPS, a couple of motion camera, and a couple of memory cards....

Friday Ninja Cat Blogging

2009-09-25T18:23:00.000-05:00

I normally don't post other peoples stuff, but this one, well, it's just wicked cool! I really hope brother doesn't learn this trick, and yet, I really hope he does!

Friday Ninja Cat Blogging: "I would not want to live in the same house as this cat. It’s a silent assassin. Via Cynical-C."

Lambeau Field

2009-09-21T20:35:00.001-05:00

I was accused of being a liar about going to see the Packers. These are from my cell phone. Nothing great, but it's all I took.

I went with my buddy Matt. His Uncle is a season ticket holder, and had extra tickets for the game.

I had a blast even though I am not a sports fan.

My House, My House, My House is on fire!

2009-09-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, somebody decided to try to burn my apartment complex down.

Actually, it was a smoker who missed the ash tray. Went, and fell into the bush, and by the time he got his glass of water to put it out, he needed a truckload of water.
The heat blistered all of the siding. Only suface damage to the building. Still scary though.

They are going to replace all the dried out juniper bushes.