Internet Finally!!!

So much to tell but to cut to the chase Greenland is amazing accept for the many, many, many, MANY FREGGIN MOSQUITOS!!! Yeah they dont exactly put that in the brochures lol. Anyway I am a couple days behind but I upgraded my Flickr Account to a pro account and I am uploading like a champ. I have a few vids I will post too. Doing my absolute best to geotag all of them. I will be in touch too. So enjoy the pics and I will get into my many stories a bit later. But to just sum it up...the Polar Grid is up and functional!!

Geo Feed Test Between Flickr and Google Maps

View Larger Map

Mrs. Cross

Ok guys this one is a hard one for me to talk about but I need to get this out. Two weeks ago now my mother in-law past very suddenly. Though it was due to cancer, it wasn't supposed to be that bad according to the doctors. Yes it has been hard for my wife and I. Sony and Ma were very close. I mean they called each other at least once a day if not more to just see how each other was doing. I had never experienced that type of parental relationship until I met my wife. It was truly an amazing thing to see and be apart of. But here is what I wanted to say.

Many of you don't know that my father was a bit crazy. Ok he wasn't playing with a full deck when it came to relationships and emotions. He dealt in anger mainly. Back in my first senior year of college I hit a personal low. I actually wanted to stay out of school for a semester to get my head together. Dont get me wrong. I had a full time job, good grades and all. I just needed a semester to breathe. Well when I told my folks...cross that, when I told my mom she ran down stairs and told my dad and dad promptly said "get your shit and get out of my house." That is right folks I was kicked out of the house because I wanted to take a semester off from college. Not that I was a bad son or wasn't working or selling drugs or getting girls pregnant. Oh no...because I wanted to take one f-ing semester off.

To say the least my entire life was thrown up in the air. I didn't know what to do or where to go. Just imagine that. The security blanket of your parents and your home reject you. That is a big pill to swallow. One I still have problems with to this day sometimes. Well that night Mrs. Cross actually took me in.

I don't want you to think of this in a little way. I was the boyfriend of her daughter. Mrs. Cross was also a very devout Jehovahs Witness. Here comes this "worldly boy" as she would say, and she took me in. (She did call her dad first to see what he thought (she was almost 50 and she called her dad for his opinion...hmm that is a special woman)). The fact that she helped me always meant so much to me. I was very fortunate to get the opportunity the night before she passed to let her know that. It wasn't that I was expecting her to pass, you could just talk to her like that.

Well Mrs. Cross --Ma, you will be missed, appreciated, respected, and most importantly loved for the rest of my days.

~J

P.S.
She told me I was "Ok for a worldly boy" and you know what, that is good enough for me.

Lyrics Stuck in my Head

For some reason the lyrics from Aerosmiths "Get A Grip" CD are stuck in my head. 1st track before Eat the Rich lol.

"Wake up kids your half past your youth and ain't nothing really changing but the date. You're a grand slammer, but you're no Babe Ruth. You got to learn how to relate. Or you will be swinging from the pearly gates. You got ...(something I cant remember) low and behold. You got the right key baby but the --wrong --key --whole --yo..."

Ok maybe now I can focus on class lol.

(From my wife) - Duties of a Wife

Duties of a Wife

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given
their new wives duties.

The 1st man had married an Asian woman



and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning. He said it took a couple of days but on the 3rd day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were done.


The 2nd man had married a White woman.

He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. On the 1st day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the 3rd day, his house was clean, the dishes were done and he had a huge dinner on the table.




The 3rd man married a Black woman.

He boasted that he had told her that her duties were to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the 1st day he didn't' see anything, the 2nd day he didn't see anything but by the 3rd day most of the swelling had gone down and he
could see a little out of his left eye; enough to fix himself a bite
to eat, load the dishwasher and call a landscaper.


Gotta love those Black women!!!!

Network Marketing - Good thing or Bad thing?

Like I said in some previous posts, my wife and I have started a couple businesses. The main thing we are looking to accomplish is a residual income so that we don't have to rely on our 9-5's so much. The one Sony found is Pre-paid Legal. PPL does for legal services what heath insurance does for medical services. In other words for $26.00 a month you can have your own legal services. It is pretty awesome! The catch is I need to do network marketing in order to actually make some money. In truth that is what all businesses do but for me it is just so hard to actually do that. I even got small business certified thinking it would be easier to work with businesses because they obviously need the services. Well--though they need it it is a pain to get through to this business owner who is working a shoe string budget that a monthly service fee could help grow and protect their business. All they think is "what are you here to sell me?" I understand where they are coming from but if your business can't afford $40.00 a month, then you have other issues, you know what I mean lol.

Anyway what I really wanted to say in this post is that I feel like I should really offer the business if not then at least the service to my family and friends. The catch is that I don't want to be one of those people that seem like I want to abuse the trust in the relationships that I have made. I really want to help these people if for no other reason than to say once I have made it, I gave you a chance to make it with me. I don't know. What do you guys think??

~J

BTW- if you really do what some more info on this just shoot me an email (jeaime@powellprivilege.com) or give me a call.

I have got to make a change

Well I'm guessing what little audience I had built is probably not going to see this so this if for me. I kind of need to get some things out.

Some how in the last few months I have lost myself. Between the new job, the new house, the new businesses I have lost what really makes me well-me. During the day i am running around for work trying to make sure that there is no need for anyone to be looking for me because what ever it is that they may ask me to do is already done. The job isn't really stressful until some type of conference is going on so that shouldn't bug me. Yet I feel like there is something missing. I should be doing more because I know the Greenland trip is coming up sooner than I really want it to.

School has actually been pretty easy and yet I feel like I am not really applying myself the way I should. I do my work I just don't take it to that next level that I have always prided myself on doing. That extra bit that truly makes the professor go "Wow".

I feel like I have let my wife down in a way that I can't really explain. In high school I was always full of ideas and prospects but they have seemed to fade with time. I wanted to be an extraordinary husband. I wanted to be the one that other wives get jealous over. I feel like I am just like any of the other ones just doing the bare minimum to make her not fuss.

Then there are my businesses. I see the possibilities of making them work but getting doors shut in my face time after time has lead me to believe that I (not my services) are the problem. It is a hard thing to deal with when you feel like you are a failure.

I won't even talk about my friends and family. I feel like I have neglected them. I don't call regularly. I don't invite them over for dinner or do things that I always saw myself doing as an adult.

I mean I can't even figure out what I want to do with my life! I'm 28 and I just plain don't know. Can I do a lot of things, yes. Do I want to do a lot of things,,,no. What the freak is that???

I can't keep doing the same thing. I have to make some dramatic changes in my life before it is to late. I have to prioritize. I have to set some new goals. I have to accept some new challenges. I have to reach for a new ring. The great part is that I recognize the problem, now I just have to tackle it. Now just where to start???

Read a Book N_GGA **Offensive Lyrics Warning**

Dealing with some students (now that the new school year has begun) has forced me to be so glad that they are in school.

House Warming Party

The party was an absolute blast!! Everyone had fun but most importantly Sony and My family mixed. It is always a great thing to see you families get together and have a good time. Sony and I were both battling sinus issues but we enjoyed ourselves so much!.

~~In Memory of Sadie P.

My grandmother Sadie P passed away today. I know immediate feelings of condolences and things come to might but although they appreciated they kind of aren't needed. Grandma was my fathers mother. For some reason my family wasn't really close to that side of the family. Not all of them but a lot of them. Sadie P kind of fell into the same category. There was some bad blood between my dad and Grandmother. I think some thing happened in his childhood but the main issue I knew about was a disagreement about a house deed. Either way the only time I really saw Grandma was at funerals, Christmas, weddings, or if she needed something fixed at the house. The bad part is that Grandma lived about 5 mins away from my home. I dont want this post to be negative though. I wanted to share one memory from my childhood that happened because I stayed at my grandmothers house. I actually think it was the only time I ever stayed at my grandmothers house. Anyway I was around 6 or 7 during this particular summer. Next to my grandmother lived a family with another little girl about my age. From what I can remember the girl was brown skin with fish eye glasses. At the same time we were kids so we didn't care what we looked like, we just wanted to play lol.

The way we actually got to play was that a pretty bad summer storm came up. Once it had passed I of course decided to go jump in some puddles. While I was out there the little girl came out and started playing in the mud too. She was a girl after my own heart so we started to play lol. We ended up finding this little area of dirt that had not been covered by grass and we made the coolest mud castle. For two days we worked on our mud castle, bringing in cups of water to keep the mud wet. To say the least we had a blast.

On my grandmothers behalf as dirty as I got she did nothing but laugh at me when I came in for lunch or dinner. She cleaned me up fed me and sent me back out to have the time of my life. Got to admit that was a pretty awesome stay at grandma's house.

Ok one more story that she and I laughed about though it was pretty serious. Grandma started loosing her eye sight a couple years ago. On her way home after she had her first surgery to clear out some of the blockages, she hit her self in the good eye getting out of the car. My father my grandmother and I laughed so hard about that. You have to realize that my grand mother had this very distinctive laugh. It was a deep guttural laugh that kind of started and stopped rhythmically. Her laugh kind of forced you laugh along with her.

I will miss that laugh but I am so glad that she is no longer in pain. Rest in peace grandma --rest in peace.

~J

Setting up an imaging/drive cloning server

I work in a lab with over thirty computers. Students and Faculty both use these computer heavily. To say the least they get very junked up. I decided to implement a new way to reload the system instead of each one from scratch or buy manually connecting drives to use an old version of Norton Ghost. With a little bit of searching I came upon a program named G4U which stands for Ghost for Unix with no relation to Norton Ghost. G4U is a Unix-based (or G4L which is Ghost for Linux-based) app that will clone drives to a FTP server. Sweet!! It Seemed easy. I had a Mac with OSX. I turned on the FTP server from system preferences, and I downloaded and burn the G4U ISO created the "install" user account with admin privileges. I booted off the burned CD and --errors!! Many funky errors. With some research I found that the FTP server built into OS X is a stripped down version of the original Darwin client. I ended up having to use another ftp server that is also built-in but I configured it through an open-source GUI name Pure-FTPd Manager. 5 minutes. No lie, 5 minutes and I had it up and running but there was one trick. You have to create an "install" user in the Pure-FTPd Manager. (I also want to thrown in there that if you don't use the default folder for saving the images...you will need to change what ever folder you want to use to read+write in the Virtual folders tab) So lets go through the steps:

1. Download and burn the G4U ISO
2. Download and install Pure-FTPd Manager
3. Create a virtual user named "install"
4. Find the computer's local ip address from the network icon in system prefrences. (Even though it is listed in the status screen of Pure-FTPd that is the public address which may not always work depending on your firewall)
5. Boot the computer from the G4U CD you burned.
6. To create/upload an image type

    uploaddisk ipaddress filename.gz

1. To restore from an image type

    slurpdisk ipaddress filename.gz 

7. Restart the computer

I hope this helps!!

Blackle --Google environmentally freindly!

Global warming blah blah blah.....ice caps melting blah blah blah....Earth needs our help. Ok sweet I'm all set to do what I can. Now what can my broke a$$ do to actually help? I want an electric car, but I can't afford one. I want compact fluorescents but they are like $5.00 a pop, and I would need almost 20 of them. I'd love to buy a LCD to save energy but my CRT is working fine, and I think I would prefer to eat this month lol.

Ok so here is what you can do, but first a quick technology lesson (You want some cheese with that wine?? lol ). CRTs work by basically shooting by photons at a phosphorus screen. It takes three of those guns, one for each color Red, Green, and Blue. That takes a lot of energy. The closer to white the color, the more power it takes. Now some quick stats. Google is searched almost 200 million times a day globally. We all know, and love the clean basic look of the regular Google interface. Well that interface is primarily white. Now if that background color was changed to black so none of those guns were used, there could be a power saving of over 750 megawatt hours per year. So less carbon emissions from coal burning power plants; therefore we help save the earth. Awesome. So why don't they do it?

Well keep in mind Google has probably done studies, and paid millions of dollars to see what colors look best on their site. So they aren't changing crap lol. (I do want to say that in their defence Google has covered every available area on the roofs of their campus with solar panels.)

There is an alternative though, Blackle.com. It is Google with an environmental twist. So finally after all that you can save power by simply changing your search habits by going to Blackle.com . There ya go, and that won't cost you a dime. Now if they only had an iBlackle lol.

Ask a ninja : Global Warming

CReSIS All-Hands Retreat

I had to write a blurb for our web page so I figured I might as well post it on my blog so you all know what I am doing. BTW The GRID part is me lol.

---

Held in the scenic town of Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, the purposes of the CReSIS All-Hands Retreat were to both decide which experiments were going to take place in the field, and secondly to allow the faculty and staff of CReSIS to meet.


The fieldwork consists of Polar Study Seasons in both Greenland, and Antarctica. The Greenland study will take place in either May or June of 2008 before the ice begins to thaw. During this time the seismic studies of the ice sheets will be taken to assist in learning of the structure of the ice sheets. This research along with core samples will allow 3-D models to be designed that will be used to track ice sheet movement, and melting. Two portable GRID computer systems will be field tested during this time to process raw data. This data will then be used to help decide the next day’s selection of study area. The Antarctic study will take place in November or December of 2008. During the Antarctic study the debut of an 1100 pound unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will highlight the study session. This UAV will primarily be utilized to study glaciers, which are not safe for on-the-ground human study. The then perfected portable GRID will process the data directly from the UAV storage devices to select the next study area.

The secondary purpose of the retreat was communication. Scientist, and technologist often have a disconnect to the big picture of how a project that is being worked on, relates to others. The retreat allowed those multiple subsections of CReSIS to meet, and to establish dialogues. Sensor staff met with robotics staff. GRID specialist met with data processing staff. Radar specialist met with power staff. Due to the realized need for a centralized repository of information about the different persons who work on the CReSIS project, a decision for an on-line profile for every member was added as a goal for the technology group. Along with student mapping these additions by far will add to the success of the research project by opening those doors of communication across areas of specialization.

I am not alone lol

So I am down in MO for a CReSIS conference. The whole point of this conference is for fellow scientist and researchers to meet so we can make sure we are all on the same page or at least in the same book--ok at least the same state lol. Anyway big words abound and plans are unrolled and rolled back. Mean while I'm sitting there going what the hell. Yeah ummm I didn't know about any of that lol. Apparently my whole job at EC is revolving around research for CReSIS. Cool, now I know lol. So anyway last night some of the conference members and myself gathered together to watch a movie and ind of get to know each other a bit better. Well I was talking to one person when I just couldn't take it anymore. I asked the all important question. "What the hell are we supposed to be doing?lol" She fell out laughing and said "you too?? I thought it was just me lol. " So apparently we need to make a key item on the agenda "What you should know about CReSIS when you Begin" or some type of orientation thing cause everyone is lost accept the older professors that have been in it from the beginning. So basically here is what I have to do as far as I have figured out. My job is to take data and process it using MATLAB on the GRID. I am supposed to make two portable GRID systems for deployment in Greenland next summer and then again in Antarctica next December. Sweet ok now I can deal with that. Now one question...how do I use MATLAB lol?? I know I will get there but this is gonna take some hard work ..but hey, at least it is educational work instead of corporate crap.

New iMacs Whoot!! I'm so getting one --or 10--for the lab lol

So I was watching the text feed from the Apple Summer Press conference on Engadget. (I'm an Apple fan boy, what can I say lol) Brother Steve decided to revamp the entire iMac line. Now why this is so important to me is because I just got my boss to sign off on purchasing a few new 17" iMacs. Well brother Steve must have heard my prayer because he axed the 17" model and replaced it with a 20" model at the same rice point with improved specs!!! The other cool thing is the look. Aluminum and glass, I should repeat it like a Chinese monk aluminum and glass--aluminum and glass lol. The new iMac is the hotness and I'm getting one. High-ho diddly!!! Thanks Brother Steve and all hail Apple lol.

My condolences to the family of "Tourettes Guy"

Exert from TourettesGuy.com August 4, 2007 A couple of days ago we received some terrible news about Danny. Late last week Danny passed away. About a month ago Danny was involved in a bad car accident. He had been out of the hospital for a couple of days staying with a friend when he suffered some medical complications. He unexpectedly passed away in the night. We here at TourettesGUY.com are deeply saddened by this news as we love Danny. The reality of Danny's death hasn't sunk in yet, even a few days later. It is our burden to share this news with you - the millions of fans who also love Danny. In about a week we will be putting the videos back up. We thought about taking the site down for good, but Danny's videos are already all over the internet and we felt that we could do some good with the site. We will be releasing all the videos along with one last new video in a high quality DVD format in memory of Danny. This DVD will be free to download, but you will also be able to purchase a physical copy. All proceeds from the DVD will go to Danny's family. When the site is completely back up, we will have a service enabling you to send your condolences. We would also like to hear how Danny has positively influenced your life. Please be respectful, and send your letters to letters@tourettesguy.com. Shortly, we will be posting a letter from the person who discovered Danny. We will miss you Danny!!! May you finally rest in peace. The Big Admin.

1964-2007

How to hide files in an image

I just thought this was very cool. Once again that DOS command from the command line is:

copy /b image.jpg + archive.zip newimagename.jpg

Penguins everywhere!!

I saw this on my way home from work, and couldn't help but take a pict of it. Have churches gotten to the point that they need a gimmick to get people to come? I can just imagine the church meeting where this was thought up.

Church Deacon: "It will be like March of the Penguins --for Jesus!"

Church Pastor: "How much will it cost?"

Church Deacon: "Don't worry about it. Big Lots is having a plastic penguin sale."

Church Pastor: "Buy them all! Buy them all now!!"

How to install a LaserWriter 630 Pro in Vista

Ok so an old LaserWriter 630 Pro was surplussed out here at work and I decided to pick it up, because I know the things are like tanks. Well that and the fact that I know how to work on the Canon/HP/Apple printer engine without a problem. Anyway lol, I reloaded 32-bit Vista Premium, because Ubuntu/Wine was pissing me off with World of WarCraft, and Guild Wars. I said all that to say this, the Apple Drivers are not included in the Vista install. They are in XP but not in Vista so what the hell. I did some searching on the inter-webs (lol) with out luck so I figured screw it I will use the XP drivers, and damn if it didn't work. Here is how I did it.

1. Insert XP OS CD, and cancel out of any of the autoplay crap. (Note: In my case I used Disc 1 of my XP Media Center Edition)
2. Goto Windows logo button (Old Start) -->Control Panel --> Printers
3. Click "Add Printer"
4. Select "Local Port" and click "Next"(Note: Only select Network if you are printer sharing to another computer with a LaserWriter)
   
5. "LPT 1" and click "Next" (Note:If you are using some type of Print Server you may either need to create a Standard TCP/IP port or select the proprietary port for your printer server.)
6. In the driver window select "Have Disk"
7. Click "Browse"
8. Under "Look In" select your CD-Rom with the Windows CD in it and choose the "i386" folder and click "OK"
9. After a second of loading, the XP drivers should be listed in which you can select "Apple", and which ever LaserWriter you have.
10. Finish the "Add Printer Wizard", and boom-bam you have your LaserWriter again!!

I think the Windows 2000 Pro CD will also work the same way, because the driver didn't change between the 2K and XP but I did not test that.