Strick's Ramblings

Yet another year is about to pass, as such, so should the old look. I was going for a "paper" look, to match the "theme" I have for my main site. Doesn't really match, but it will work.  It is my intention to write more in my blog in 2012.

I really hope 2012 to be a prosperous year for our family. We certainly need some prosperity! I will go back to school next month getting my computer certifications. North West Florida State College is my weapon of choice.  I should come out with Comptia A+, Security+, Linux+, and Network+ and a College Certificate in IT Technology.

Recently finished my degree, and have started studying for my A+ certification.  While finishing up my degree, I discovered that the Air Force will pay $4500 dollars to take classes for certifications.  Further research revealed that the Air Force offered free training CBT’s (Computer Based Training).  These CBT’s cover A+ and Network + just to cover a few.  My goal is to be certified on A+, Network+ and Security+ prior to me getting out of the Military in 4 years.  The only thing the Air Force will not pay for is the test fee’s.

Stumbled upon this cartoon:

Thought this was hilarious!!!  Of course, since I'm not much of a C++ programmer, I would do something like this:

Sub airplanes()
 
Range("A1").Value = "I will not throw paper airplanes in class"
Range("A1").Copy
Range("A2:A500").PasteSpecial
 
End Sub

throw this in a spreadsheet then email it to the teacher!!! Ok, so this method wouldn't be as cool as the pic, but it would work and save time! Wonder how you could do this in BASH...

After putting it off, for a while, I finally decided to re-do my website.  No templates, no Front Page... just me and some html & css.  Except for the Javascript that I used to switch styles.  Turned out decent.  Still working on it though, need to alter the background on a few, and get a good color scheme down.  Feel free to let me know what you think.

Fellow Readers... (Whomever that may be...)

Just some updates.  July was a busy month for me.  My little baby had to have surgery, so we were flown Hawaii where Doctors at Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) operated on my little girl.  The surgery went well, and we are very thankful.

It was very nice to visit Hawaii, but I was glad, as always, to get back home.  My Dad was fortunate enough to make it over to be with Audrey and I during the surgery.  This was the first time he had flown since around 1966.  Airports and aircraft have changed dramatically since then, huh?

I'm back to work now, and actually looked forward to coming to work for the first time in a long time.  The weather is raining, as usual this time in the pacific.  August is just around the corner, and school will be starting.

Sabayon Linux 3.5 was released while I was gone.  I'm downloading it now, and will install it when it's done downloading or later on this week.  Probably won't be done downloading until later on this week.  My ISP sucks over here.

As far as my website goes, I plan on redoing it once again.  It needs a new look.  I'm pretty much tired of the look.  And since I have more time now, I plan on hand coding my new site.  As soon as I come up with a color scheme, I'll get busy.

Enough for now... I'll try to post more later and include some photo's I took in Hawaii...

-ME

Remember when you could fill your car up and only use a $20 bill? Well, I have accepted that we have passed that years ago. Remember when you could take the change out of the console of your vehicle and fill your lawnmower up? I certainly do. I think that the days of filling anything up for less than $5 are over. The days of taking $5 to the store to fill your lawnmower up and buying a coke are over.

Here’s what sparked this. I went to the store to fill my 1 gallon gas can up so I can mow the grass (Ok, so my two sons can mow the grass). After filling the gas can up, I only got back 10 cents from a $5 bill. I mean, I didn’t fill up a 5 gallon gas can… this was a small 1 gallon can. I think the lawnmower holds ½ gallon. So, that’s $2.50 per lawnmower “fill-up.” This is ridiculous. I have two cars, both run on Gasoline. Now, to fill both cars up, will take a $100 bill.

Of course, when I was a wee little lad, around the age of 10, I could also remember purchasing an ICE cold Coca Cola Classic, 16 ounce glass bottle for 35 cents. Then, when I was done drinking it, I could return the bottle and I would get 10 cents back. Return 10 bottles, and I would receive an entire dollar, to do with what I please. Of course, in the 80’s, a dollar would get you a bit farther that it does now. My Grandmother would always send me to the store down the road. Mr. Garlands store as it was called. This store was located on prime Highway 27 frontage. The price was gas was around $1.00 per gallon. The winters were colder… just seems that life was easier for a 10 year old. No Nintendo DS games, no Playstations, no XBOX… only Hot wheel cars, BB gun, army men, and my bicycle and cousins and friends to play with. Enough for now…

Greetings all...

Once again, it's been a while since I've posted anything.  I've been staying extremely busy.  I'm taking 2 more classes, as I've mentioned before and the Algebra class is whoopin' my buttocks.  I thought I was good in math but guess not that  good.  Alot has happened since my last post.  I’m also working on another website for the LRS Spouse Group.  http://www.35lrsspouse.com  I’ve almost got template done, just need to finish it up and add content, then troubleshoot any errors.

First of all, I recently got rid of my Pajero.  Guy payed me 10,000 yen ($100) and drove it away to a junk yard.  Same week, I found a 1992 Toyota Surf (4Runner) and paid $1500 for it.  It’s an awesome vehicle, but the v6 uses more fuel than my previous 4 cylinder diesel.

Our new Baby Audrey is growing like a weed.  She's over 1 month now and is eating more, pooping more, and sometimes crying more.  She was recently diagnosed with craniosynostosis, which is where (basically) the skull grows back too fast and causes deformity.  Now, luckily Audrey’s condition isn’t too bad, where it affects her brain, but still requires surgery.  I have an appointment in Trippler Army Medical Center in Hawaii in July.  The Government only pays for one person to fly over, which is going to be me, so if my wife goes, we’re going to have to pay for it out of our pocket.  I can’t really afford it, but I’m going to try my best to get this done.  Enough abou that.

Planning an offroad adventure / camping trip this weekend… Just an over nighter in the mountains.  Can’t wait to get out there.  The kids are really looking forward to going, and to be honest, so am I. 

Enough for now.  I’m tired of typing…

I was tired of using the web forms that my webhost provided to convert video to .flv format.  So, I wrote this script which works fine and dandy:

#!/bin/bash
##############################
# VIDEO CONVERTER  (FLV)                     #
# gi_james@strickstuff.com                     #
# www.strickstuff.com                           #
############################## 
 
# all files that start with .m (eg mpeg mpg mod) 
 
    # change to whatever you want... 
 
for file in ./*.mpg; 
 
# encode files and rename them to FLV 
 
do ffmpeg -i $file -ar 22050 -ab 32 -f flv -s 320x240 -aspect 16:9 -y ${file%.m*}.flv 
 
# all done! 
 
done

This makes it a little bit easier...
Now, since my camera shoots in 16:9 format, I decided to keep that aspect ratio, this can be changed to 4:3. We'll see how it looks.

HAPPY MARCH!  March is the month of my anniversary.  10 years?  I can't believe it.  someone has put up with me for 10 years... or I have put up with my wife for 10 years.  Man... time flies when you're having fun...  So be sure to wish us a Happy Anniversary.  I bought Cathy a nice diamond ring, I figured since I've never really bought her a diamond, I would do it now.  I certainly couldn't afford a diamond ring when we first got married.  Anyway, March 3rd was our Anniversary.  Enough about that.

Changed the theme again, for the blog.  I'm sure you've already noticed.  I'm working on changing the looks of my main site as well.  I changed my wifes sewing site around already.  http://www.stricklysewing.com.  Let me know what you think; I made it look all perty with butterflies and such.  I'm thinking about going with a darker look on my main site.  Anyway, it will be about a week or so before you see any changes, if any.  I have to get off my lazy butt and actually write some code... but, don't feel like it right now.  That's ok, I've already accomplished the easy part by talking about it. 

That will be enough for now.

A script I wrote to re-encode videos for use on the Zune.

 
    #!/bin/bash
 
    ##############################
    # ZUNE VIDEO CONVERTER       #
    # gi_james@strickstuff.com   #
    # www.strickstuff.com        #
    ##############################
 
    # all files that start with .m (eg mpeg mpg mod)
    # change to whatever you want...
    for file in ./*.m*;
 
    # encode files and rename them to wmv
      do ffmpeg -i $file -deinterlace -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 15 -qmin 3  \
-maxrate 628000 -bufsize 628k -async 50 -vcodec wmv2 -b 500000  \
-r 29.97 -s 320x240 -ar 4x3 -acodec wmav2 -ar 44100  \
-ac 2 -ab 128k ${file%.m*}.wmv;
 
    # all done!
    done