Author Archives: joel

World of Warcraft

Posted on April 16, 2006 by joel
Or as some call it, digital crack.

If anybody hasn't heard of it - which I doubt, if you're a gamer - it's a MMORPG (massive-multiplayer online role-playing game) made by Blzzard. Blazzard is the company that produced some of the best games ever made, like Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft. Actually, I would have to say that Blizzard is my all-time favorite game company. I don't think I've ever played a game they made that wasn't amazing. This game is kind of like online D&D (Dungeons and Dragons), where you get to explore the world, fight monsters, find treasure, cast spells, and all that sort of stuff. But the cool part is that you are playing in an enormous, persistent world with thousands of other people. So the cities are actually full of real people. You can group up with other players and take on stuff too tough to fight alone. I dig it. I've played with everyone from 11-year olds to grandmothers. In the game I play a Tauren warrior (which looks like a minotaur from Greek mythology). Currently, I'm level 32. Which probably means nothing to anyone reading this, but I'm pretty proud of it. What a geek! If anyone out there is also playing this game, or had been thinking of starting, I am on the Earthern Ring realm, and would love to play with friends.



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The Cuteness Quotient

Posted on April 15, 2006 by joel
This just a random assortment of cute pictures Lori has taken recently. Isn't he sweet? I love the one where we are laying on the couch together. He was winding down before bedtime, and when I picked him up to let him sit on the couch with me, he nestled right in.


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Scenes from Space #27

Posted on April 14, 2006 by joel
Is this not one of the coolest things you've even seen? This photo (taken by SOHO, which has a UNH instrument on it) shows an arch of ionized gas floating above the surface of the Sun. The crazy, twisted magnetic fields near the surface of the Sun can trap ionized gases in these huge, looping structures. The arches eventually break free of the Sun, and can lead to communications and power failures here on Earth, 93 million miles away.

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Curly Sue

Posted on April 14, 2006 by joel
Sean's finally getting enough hair for it to show up in photos. It's actually getting a bit shaggy in the back - but we're afraid to cut it. I think we're just going to leave it long until after our trip out to NH. It looks like he's getting his daddy's curls. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. :)


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Tales from the Hood

Posted on April 7, 2006 by joel
Ah, the amusing nature of small-town crime. We got a free copy of our town newspaper yesterday, which they hoped would entice us to subscribe. Hmm...tough decision. This 30-page paper includes seven full pages of ads (and lots of additional ads scattered among the 'news', as well), ten pages of classifieds, and two pages of 'letters to the editor'. The front page news was an article on the latest attempt by the town council to raise the wastewater rates. By $1.82 per month (for us, at least). Oh boy. The only redeeming quality of small-town papers is the police blotter. Those are usually gold. Here are a few gems from the Boerne paper - which I swear are reproduced here word for word:

Friday, March 24, 2:02 a.m. - One of two suspicious juveniles sitting in a van outside a complaintant's residence turned out to be her son.

Monday, March 27, 7:41 p.m. - A plastic egg left on a front porch inscribed with the words "Caution, open at own risk" contained animal excrement.

Saturday, April 1, 10:28 p.m. - A small campfire received a verbal warning and was extinguished.

Sunday, April 2, 9:13 p.m. - The ice cream man's cacophony gave the caller a headache, and he asked that the guy chill.

I think they speak for themselves, no?

Posted in Misc | 1 Comment

Scenes from Space #26

Posted on April 7, 2006 by joel
Astronomers are finding new planets outside of our own solar system all the time. One of the projects I am currently working on is called Kepler, and is a NASA-funded orbiting telescope designed specifically to find extrasolar planets. It's a pretty exciting project to be working on - this stuff is cutting-edge science. Hoepfully I'll get to go to the launch, which should be in a couple of years. This image is an artist's depiction of what an extrasolar planet orbiting a distant red dwarf star might look like, complete with a hypothetical moon.

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God of War

Posted on April 1, 2006 by joel
Has anyone else out there played God of War for the Playstation 2? I've been wanting to pick it up ever since it won "Console Game of the Year" in the gaming magazine I subscribe to - but it has been 50 bucks since it first came out. Well just this past week it got added to the PS2 "Greatest Hits" collection - which means it got marked down to $20. Aww yeah! This is a sweet game. Incredibly violent, with awesome level design and animation. The visuals are stunning. Just look at some of these screenshots. It looks even better in person. And there is just something about being a 6 foot tall guy taking on beasties that are as big as skyscrapers - and winning - that is pretty damn cool. Dig it!



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AVR Project – LEDs and PWM

Posted on March 25, 2006 by joel
I've been super-busy at work lately, and haven't had much time for personal projects. But I have managed to spend a tiny bit of time here and there working with that AVR development board. I've got it controlling 8 super-bright LEDs (4 green, 4 red). The code I've written uses PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the intensity of the LEDs. I'm going to use this method to try some interesting projects using color-blending from red, green, and blue LEDs. I'm pretty much stuck right now though - I am waiting for an order from Mouser to get here. By the way, for you other folks using AVRs - where are you getting them from, and which AVR are you using? I'm having trouble finding anywhere that I can still get the 2313 that is on this development board. Do they make them anymore?


Posted in Electronics | 2 Comments

And Then There Were Two!

Posted on March 25, 2006 by joel
We were going to wait to spill the beans, but I think almost everyone knows anyway. Lori couldn't keep a secret. :) So just to make it official - Lori is pregnant! She's about seven weeks along. She is starting to swell a little quicker this time. It's hard to tell in the picture, but her belly is already starting to round out. Although she has been eating a lot of cookies lately...hmm...


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Yardwork

Posted on March 25, 2006 by joel
Lori and I tried to catch up on a bunch of yardwork this morning, and Sean got his first chance to play in leaves. I think he really enjoyed the new texture - he kept running his hands through the pile and smiling. He's been doing great with his standing and walking - he hardly ever crawls anymore, unless he gets cranky, tired, and clumsy. He's also becoming adept at crouching to play with things on the floor instead of sitting down.


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