1 of 3 = me

One of three equals me.

More explanation via Blogger = never.

3RLOD

On how to descend a hill on a bike. Video.

Last night my Xbox 360 experienced the Three Red Lights of Death (aka, 3RLOD). So today I attempted to fix it using the X-clamp removal and repair method. Pictures here. I completed all the steps in about three hours.

I plugged everything in, overheated the Xbox to re-solder the GPU/CPU to the motherboard, cooled it off, and attempted to turn it on. The 3RLOD were gone!

However, my Xbox 360 then experienced what I would call the One Red Light of Death. The lower right quadrant was flashing. I queried this error, and it is apparently due to a bad ANA chip, or something related to the video output of the Xbox 360. So apparently, every component in my Xbox 360 decided to fail at once.

So all in all, I got to see the innards of the Xbox 360, bought a cool new screwdriver set (complete with Torx T6 through T25 hex heads), and corrected the 3RLOD. But alas, it still is broken. Tomorrow I will be buying a new Xbox 360 and the newly released Call of Duty 5: World at War. At least I can buy a cheap Xbox Arcade and upgrade the harddrive. As long as my old harddrive isn't broken too.

Yay for technology.

And my phone wasn't working today either. I had to call IT so they could fix the Enterprise Activation so I could send and receive network email.

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Saturday Bike Ride Adventure

Today I drove myself and my bike to the Colebrook trail head of the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail (LVRT). On the way, with my window down, I was thinking that I perhaps should have brought along a sweatshirt, but when I arrived and saw hunters en masse I was glad I had not, and was only wearing my bright yellow T-shirt.

My trip can be viewed here. Pictures are here.

I began by heading west on the LVRT. I passed by what looked to be a hiking trail, and decided to turn around and take a closer look. The trail was labeled as the Horse Shoe Trail, which is a part of the Mt. Gretna network of trails. I had read about this trail online; it was rated as a beginner level trail, but the many comments said that it was more of an advanced trail and the rating was completely wrong. Regardless, I decided to take the Horse Shoe instead of the flat, packed-gravel LVRT trail.

The trail definitely wasn't beginner; there were loose rocks the size of baseballs and steep hills. The first section shown on the map (the little part that goes directly south) was probably the hardest part as it was the steepest hill on the trip (turn on the terrain feature on Google Maps). After that, there were some ups and downs, but it was relatively easy except for one small steep section right before reaching the road.

After crossing the road, I rode through a field like area. Once completing that section, there was a steady incline to the point that I decided to turn around at a trail split (this is also where I saw around 10 orange vests walking around with high powered bows). Total one-way ride distance = 3.15 miles.

The trip back was more intense since it was almost all downhill. It was extremely bumpy due to all the rocks, and I almost flipped my bike once when I hit a large loose rock hidden in the leaves (in retrospect, having only one close call was pretty good). Going back down the steep hill I encountered during the start of my trip was pretty fun. I nearly had my chest on my seat on the way down to maintain some balance.

Once reaching the bottom, I returned to my car, had a drink of water, and continued east on the LVRT a little bit. Overall, it was a good trip. Though I really ought to exercise more.

Next trip, Governor Dick Hill?

Checkpoint!

There are certain points in one's life when one checks on the status of said life. It makes me wish that Pure had been built with checkpoint functionality. But nay, it is track oriented, and whenever you went off the "track" the game made you crash and would reset your ATV. I would have much preferred the game if it had built similarly to Smuggler's Run for Game Cube and PS2. In Smuggler's Run, the entire environment was navigable, and the races were accomplished via checkpoints. I must say, Pure pwnt when it came to a track list.

1. There is no plan.

Check. This I wholeheartedly agree with and am living as such. While I do have a loose plan, I realize that it is all subject to change. Now that I will soon be living in a Blue nation, who knows what will happen (the same could be said for a McCain nation as well though).

My job is comparatively secure, but even if it's not I feel confident that with my experience and skill set finding a job would not be entirely difficult. I have all my options laid out in front of me, and will progress, all while at least preserving the status quo.

2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.

Check. This is something I've somehow developed into doing my entire life. I like what I'm good at, I do what I like, I'm good at what I like to do. And repeat. My entire career has actually meshed very well with my strengths and likes. Though one could argue my career choices were based on my strengths and likes. So which came first? It actually doesn't really matter which came first, only that I know #2 and preserve the check in this box.

3. It's not about you.

Check, sort of. Sometimes I forget this. Though honestly I think other people forget it more often. Everyone seems so concerned about preserving their own life, their own job, that they will do everything in their power to preserve said things: lie, cheat, make excuses. But I've come to realize that for the most part if first attention is given to the collective, the company, the team, others, that this is respected far greater than the best excuse in the world.

I try to live my life now following rule sub 3: Never make excuses, even when at fault. There is normally no reason that it would ever benefit someone to make an excuse. Most times excuses are readily recognized as an excuse. If one makes a mistake, admit it, fix it, and move on.

4. Persistence trumps talent.

Check. While I may be talented, there is nothing more important than persistence. Even the hardest of problems can be solved when consistently persisted at. Plus, anything is possible with Excel, unless you have more than 65,536 lines of data.

5. Make excellent mistakes.

Check. Though I really try to avoid making mistakes altogether. It's not so much about making mistakes, or even making excellent ones. It's about learning from them; what went wrong, how can that be avoided next time.

6. Leave an imprint.

Working on it. So far so good.

Checkpoint complete.

Living Room

Album of my living room complete with new coffee table, end table, and lamp stands here.

Said to the Sun to the Shine

Parhelion.

Value

I really enjoy my work. Maybe too much. Perhaps it's because I feel as if I am fulfilling my duty, or because it adds purpose to my life. But I feel like I have dedicated my life to my work, though I think I've always been that way to some degree.

Progress is beautiful.

I am satisfied with where my life is now.

I have a job that I love; that keeps me busy. I work alongside other smart, dynamic people. I work for a business that is moderately stable in the current fluctuating markets. My car is doing fairly well considering how many miles are on it. I have a house. Many people would agree with me that I am comparatively successful. But that is nothing new to this blog.

And yet, there are those that would perhaps find changes were necessary, or at least suggested, in order to make me more complete. Or make me more complete in their eyes. In order to add value to me. Or to them?

But what is value even defined as? I recently went to a seminar where a multi-millionaire said that every person inherently has value. This I don't disagree with. But value is much more than that; value is in the eye of the beholder; one man's trash is another man's treasure; and so on. Are the changes proposed to my life adding value to me? Or are they adding value to the person to which is beholding me (and actually detracting from the value that I consider myself worth)?

I don't have a girlfriend. I have no prospect at marriage. I have no possibility of kids. At this moment.

Those facts don't bother me that much.

I have a linear income job. I like what I'm doing. I have no desire to change my source of income. At this moment.

Those facts don't bother me at all.

I am continually learning and improving myself. I am making excellent mistakes. I am successful. At this moment.

Those facts are what I expect. So at this momentary instance, I'm good. Right?

LBI

Pictures from Long Beach Island, Labor Day weekend, are uploaded here.

Tables in August

I built a table for my lamp today. I got the directions for said project here. Completed project pictures are here. I think mine actually looks better than the website's. I took a little more time on mine, and actually counted every ten pages so everything would be even. The magazines were old mechanical engineering magazines that I had received from one of the engineers at R.H. Sheppard during my internship there in 2006.

I'm considering trying to make a coffee table via a similar method. I would create a one-layer magazine legs and then set a piece of cut glass on top. It's surprising how sturdy paper is when it is layered properly. Though I need more magazines for that project. Perhaps I could find some old issues of National Geographic at the library for sale or something. Or a yard sale.

And of course there is the option of using vintage books.

August has been good. I went to Minneapolis for a week of training for work. The weather there was amazing, at least during August. I've heard it gets pretty cold there in the winter though. The only other travel I have planned right now is two days in Philadelphia for AutoCAD training. I might being going to Toronto for work sometime later this year, but not sure about that yet.

Work continues to go well. I'm pretty much constantly busy at work, which is nice. And I still love my job. I certainly am gaining a lot of experience.

My house is good. I still need to fix a few things, like the tub faucet is leaking now, and the toilet still runs randomly because of a leaky fixture within the tank. The kitchen needs some grout or caulk or something between some of the linoleum tiles. I need to install the towel rack on the bathroom door.

I did lots of paperwork today. At least 80% of all the stuff I went through was junk mail. I paid my second mortgage payment and some other bill. I also changed nearly all of my billing methods to online, so the junk mail to real mail ratio is bound to get worse. Though maybe I can change all the important stuff to online so the only value-added mail that I get is Netflix.

My car is running good. As is my computer though I've been having problems with my screen savers not working properly when AIM is running, which is strange. I would like to get a new computer, but I'm gonna worry about paying some of my college loans and short-term debt first.

That's the update on all basic aspects of my life except one.

Purple Door was good. My favorite band was probably The Foxhole. I bought their two CDs that they had available, though I liked their live stuff better. It's good music to just zone out to though. As for bands that have that "rock out" factor, my favorites were either Inhale Exhale or Disciple.

Post Purple Door was even better though.

Time for bed.

π * 10 - 1.18992711369139².

May and June 2008

I haven't updated in a long while, mostly because I was without access to my desktop computer for a while due to me moving and living in a hotel for three weeks. My trip to Santa Ana was amazing. I got introduced to the corporate headquarters of Ingram and the employees that work there.

I also got to do some sightseeing and some restauranting. Pictures are on my Picasa. I also got to try sushi for the first time, and I loved it. I've only had sushi once more since the trip, but I'm thinking it's my new favorite food. I stayed in a very nice hotel, and my rental car was a 2008 Chevy Malibu LTZ. So it was a pretty awesome trip and further confirmed that my job is perfect.

I've now worked a full six weeks with Ingram, though it really has not felt that long. I love every minute of my job. Furthermore, I'm going to get do some business traveling. I'm going to their facility in Tennessee for four days. I'm also going to Minneapolis with the other engineers for training. But that's all I shall write of work for now. It's easier to just simply not write about work than worry about what's proprietary.

My new house is awesome. I have nearly everything unpacked. I think I have six boxes of stuff left to unpack in the room. I've also completed a bunch of little projects to fix up the house and get everything setup the way I want it. My dad and I installed a new lock in the back door. That project required cutting (more like grinding) a hole in the metal-plated wooden door. The mudroom to which the door leads still smells a little smokey. We also installed a new lock in the garage.

I fixed the garage door. Both of my garage doors have openers and the one side that I use for my car was broken. The door was braced with steel on the top of the door, to which was attached the garage door opener, as it was supposed to be. The problem was that the brace had broken, apparently more than once. So that actually took a while to unbolt all the broken metal, use the scrap to build a new frame, and replace each bolts to the newly configured frame. Not to mention the garage is like a sauna.

Gardening: I weeded the front garden, planted little grassy plants, and mulched. Then AJ and I weeded the side garden. So now my yard is 95% weed free. There is a little patch of weeds near the deck. This was a big project since the previous resident had not weeded in over two years, according to my neighbors. I still need to figure what I want to plant in the garden. I'm thinking that I might go with some shrubbery and garden rocks, or something.

Rewiring: I ran coaxial cable all over the place. So now my computer, AJ's computer, and my Xbox 360 are all Internet capable. This required drilling holes in the ceiling and floors and all over the place. I still need to tack the cable to the window frame so it looks good.

So those were the larger projects. I still have some little projects, like fixing the grout in the kitchen.

I have a grill and used it three times in one week. Made sausage to go with spaghetti, burgers, and pork chops. I love making my own food.

More updates later? Probably within a sooner time frame than last time.

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