Author: James

Happy New Year

Posted on by James

Greetings fellow reader(s):

I hope all everyone has  had a wonderful Christmas, regardless of what religious background you claim.  I had a great Christmas with my Family this year.  Of course, any Christmas one spends with thier family would certainly be a great Christmas.  Eventhough this Christmas didn’t have the living room floor covered in presents like it did in past years.  The economy hits home here in Japan, perhaps not as hard as it has hit in the Untied States, but we certainly feel it as well.

Other than being with Family, another highlight would be the Wii the kids got for Christmas.  When the kids opened it, I couldn’t wait to play it.  Of course, I was the first one playing on it.

Yet another year has passed.  The Year 2009 will certainly be a memorable year for Americans and the world.  A new President who I hope restores the way the world views the Americans.  Someone who loves to travel the world, I don’t really want to be viewed as a “Bully,” which is how many countries of the world views us.  When I visit certain countries, I actually tell people I’m Canadian.

Enough for now, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!  Stay safe and take care of yourself and your Family.

New Look…

Posted on by James

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.

July Updates

Posted on by James

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

Filling up my Lawnmower

Posted on by James

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…

AutoFormat a spreadsheet

Posted on by James

Trying to AutoFormat an Excel Spreadsheet…

Sub OLVIMS_REPORT()
'======================================================
' CLOSED 868 REPORT AUTO FORMAT SCRIPT/MACRO
'======================================================

    Columns("A:B").Select
    Selection.Delete Shift:=xlToLeft
    Range("H1").Select
    Cells.Replace What:="END OF REPORT", Replacement:="", LookAt:=xlPart, _
        SearchOrder:=xlByRows, MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False, _
        ReplaceFormat:=False
    Range("A2").Select
    Columns("H:H").EntireColumn.AutoFit
    Columns("I:I").EntireColumn.AutoFit
    Columns("C:C").EntireColumn.AutoFit
    Columns("B:B").EntireColumn.AutoFit
    Range("A2:I2").Select
    Selection.Cut Destination:=Range("H1:P1")
    Range("A4:I4").Select
    Selection.Cut Destination:=Range("H3:P3")
' the rest was cut out
    '
    ' Delete Blank Rows Macro
    '
    On Error Resume Next

    Columns("I:I").SpecialCells(xlCellTypeBlanks).EntireRow.Delete

    '
    ' auto_width Macro
    '
    '
    Columns("A:Z").EntireColumn.AutoFit

'
' COLOR Macro
'
'
  Application.ScreenUpdating = False
  Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual   'pre XL97 xlManual
  Dim Rng As Range, ix As Long
  Set Rng = Intersect(Range("P:P"), ActiveSheet.UsedRange)
  For ix = Rng.Count To 1 Step -1
      If Trim(Replace(Rng.Item(ix).Text, Chr(160), Chr(32))) = "" Then
        Rng.Item(ix).ClearContents
      End If
  Next
done:
  Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
  Application.ScreenUpdating = True

    Columns("H:H").SpecialCells(xlCellTypeBlanks).Select
    With Selection.Interior
        .Pattern = xlSolid
        .PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .COLOR = 65535
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .PatternTintAndShade = 0
    End With
    Columns("P:P").Select
    Columns("P:P").SpecialCells(xlCellTypeBlanks).Select
    With Selection.Interior
        .Pattern = xlSolid
        .PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .COLOR = 65535
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .PatternTintAndShade = 0
    End With

End Sub

Here is the full code, in txt format.

Surgery

Posted on by James

Another Day down, and that much closer to the baby’s surgery. Audrey is scheduled for surgery on the 9th of July. Audrey and I fly into Hawaii on the 6th, and our appointments start the next day. Not only do I have the surgery to worry about, but I’m also concerned with the financial aspects as well. I can’t really afford to send Cathy, John, Matthew & Jaymie there to be with Audrey. If the duration of stay was 1 week or less I would consider letting the kids stay here in Misawa with friends, but that is out of the question, due to the fact that we will probably be there for atleast one month. Additionally, I’m trying to buy my Dad tickets to fly from Atlanta to Hawaii so he can spend some time with the kids. He hasn’t seen them in 2 years. Even though I have not promised the kids that he will be there, some reason they seem to be expecting him to be there. I keep telling them I will try, and attempted to explain to them that this is going to cost a lot of money and we have to be carefull not to spend too much.

This weekend we are planning another offroad trip to the mountains. This time there will be some new people attending. We are meeting up at the BX parking lot at 6:50 am and departing for the mountains at 7:am and meeting up with our Japanese Counterparts at 8:am at redbridge camping area. Can’t wait for this, looks like it’s going to be a good turnout, so we should have lots of fun.

Another thing to add… It is awesome that I don’t have any school work to deal with after work! I’m taking a summer break. Depending on work, probably a fall break. I’m thinking of starting back to shool in late October.

June Updates…

Posted on by James

Finals are finally done!!!  I will not be taking classes this summer.  Things are just too hectic around the house, with Audrey having surgery and all.  Now that this class is over, I’ll have time to do some things I have been putting off.  Not that I can list anything now.  But, I’ll have time to do stuff anyway.  Like wax my vehicle… uhh… work on my website… well… after I get back from Hawaii that is. 

My friend David is deploying soon, so this weekend we will be going back out to the mountains for some trail riding.  A couple of our Japanese friends from the Jimny Club will be there.  I wish all the guys from the last trip could show up, that would be awesome!  But, it will be lots of fun anyway. 

As for other updates, this is the last week of school for the kids.  Jaymie’s last day was earlier for SureStart (pre-K).  She has done Awesome and I forsee no problems in Kindergarten.  Work is the same… working long hours with no evidence of accomplishment.  Morale is… wait… what is that?  But, that’s ok.  There is light at the end of the Tunnel in August.