The horse runs faster than the pony.
(I plan to reveal the answer to these clues on Monday.)
Clue #2
Is it logical or not?
Only the Vulcan truly knows
Clue #1
Slow down the rush of days
Look around as the world flies by
Push your comfort zone
Roll with the punches
(There will be a handful of clues over the next week or two. If you figure it out, please message me privately using the Contact link on the right hand side. Thanks.)
Search Engine Unveiling
I promised you a new website feature on Monday and I wouldn't want to disappoint. So without further adue, I proudly present:
As you clever people may have guessed, Boogle is my new search engine. Head on over to Boogle and give it a shot. (There is also a link in the right hand menu bar for “Search“.) Any resemblence to another popular search engine is purely… intentional. It's not quite perfect yet. For example, it gets confused on common words like “and”, “the”, and “if” so just leave them out of your queries. You won't get any fancy boolean operators yet.
I wrote this in about 3 hours using the Microsoft Full Text Search feature and ASP.NET. The full text search engine gives you features like searching for inflections of a word (type in “good” and get results for “better” and “best” as well) and searching for two words near each other. I haven't turned any of those nifty features on yet though so you're just getting the word you searched for. I do quite a bit of processing on the results returned as well. You can click the URL that is returned and head straight to the post. The results will also show your search terms in bold with a few words before and after it. The same search works for Jay's site as well. Just click the Firelane17.com radio button underneath the logo before you do your search. If you go to the http://www.firelane17.com/search URL, the radio button is automatically selected for his site.
There are almost three years of posts on the site now and it was getting increasingly difficult to find anything. Hopefully this will make life a little simpler at least until Google catches up with the act and indexes more of my posts.
iPod Update
I finished off the iPod project last night. When you sit down in my car you just see one small white cable that pops up from the floor near the cup holder. Plug that into the dock port on the iPod and voila! 30GB of tunes at your fingertips. I'm really happy with the way the project went. It could have been a nightmare but it was pretty simple. Check out the photos here.
Rocking the iPod
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The iPod installation was a piece of cake. Everything went smoothly and it's completely operational. |
Another Geek Project
I've gotten a lot of questions lately about what my “next project“ is now that the movie is done. You may have already noticed the new link to the right there called iPod Car Stereo. I'll be chronicalling the potentially disastrous results of my attempt to install an iPod in my car.
Also, it looks like the battle over Terri is over. 14 days is about the longest you can live without food and water and that's how long Terri lasted. It makes me think that she was pretty healthy physically, but you can make your own judgements from that. Keep up the good discussion in the comments on the last post.
iPod Revolution
I've finally jumped in and joined the iPod Revolution. It's in it's fourth generation so I figure they've got it figured out by now. RadioOne killing off Y100 pushed me over the edge. Now I'm in control of my own music. I just got it last night so I haven't had a lot of time to play with it, but I'm already impressed. Apple knows how to market products. Everything in that tiny box is perfectly designed and well-packaged. They don't skimp on packaging material or the even the design of the box.
Setup and copying music to my 30GB iPod Photo was straightforward and simple. I used the included USB 2.0 cable to download all the music and charge the player at the same time. I dumped Outlook contacts onto the iPod and even a few photos so I can show off the nice color screen.
I plan to give it a full workout this weekend while I'm on the train up to NYC, but I don't see myself being anything but impressed. The next plan is to hook this into the stereo in my Mustang.
Ode to the Blinking Cursor
“Ode to the Blinking Cursor”
By Ben Martens
Oh cursor blinking on my screen
From black to white you change your gleam
Blinky blinky blinky blink
Staring at you helps me think
Patiently you wait for me
As calm and soothing as can be
I know you’ll wait for me forever
Your streak of service you’ll never sever.
All around the screen you race
You eat and eat as I backspace
How do you stay so thin and slim?
Do you work out in a gym?
You lead a refreshingly simple life
Turn on, turn off, turn left, turn right.
I thank you for your dedication
Your loyalty gives me palpitations.
Risk
We take risks every day of our life whether it's skiing down the side of a mountain, getting dragged behind a boat on skis, or driving a little too fast down the road. Even eating that piece of chicken involves risk. How much risk are you willing to accept?
For the past few months I've been working on a new project. Some of you won't be happy with me, and that's one reason I've kept it quiet. Only a couple people know that I've been working on this. I tend to blabber on incessantly about everything I do so I figured I'd use this as a little test to see if I could keep my mouth shut about something.
Over a month ago, I passed the written exam for a motorcycle license and got my learner's permit. Last weekend I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's three day training course and got my license. Friday I purchased a used bike. Saturday I got insurance and registration and I've been riding all weekend.
A motorcycle is still a dangerous mode of transportation, but there are things you can do to make it safer. I bought a 1995 Kawasaki Vulcan 800. It's an old cruiser, not a sport bike. I wear a full helmet, not a half helmet. I have a coat with protective pads instead of riding in a T-shirt. I drive two lane roads with stop signs to work instead of bopping down the interstate. My friend Aubry has been riding for years and has been my mentor through all of this from pointing me to the MSF course to teaching me motorcycle maintenance and giving me tips for riding.
Feel free to call me and tell me what a fool I am, but trust me, I know what motorcycles can do. A childhood friend passed away my second year at Purdue in a motorcycle accident. I had that fairly serious accident with a motorcycle two years ago. Plus I know a number of people who set off metal detectors because of all the metal plates they have in their bodies.
So why do it? Hop on the back of my bike sometime and I'll show you (although it will be a few weeks before I'm comfortable enough to give someone else a ride.) The feel of the open road is difficult to describe. The power of the bike underneath and the roar of the pipes as you accelerate are invigorating.
But enough of my excuses, some of you think this is awesome and I know you want to see pictures. Head on over to see “My Whips.”
In case you didn't make the connection yet, this is the answer to the three clues I posted. Here's how they relate.
There you have it. The end to the mystery and the end of my little silence experiment. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to figure out where I'm going to ride my bike to for lunch.