Income Tax

by Whyy's Rambling on February 1st, 2010

Whee

Just finished walking through my 2009 Income tax.

Guess what? The Government decided to stimulate my pay.

They "adjusted" the withholding from my paycheck. They 'withheld' less than I had planned.

I don't remember seeing anything about it from them or the my job.

Their 'stimulus" means I get to pay even MORE now to stay out of jail.

Wonder if they will use a rubber while they "stimulate" me some more.

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NaNo

by Whyy's Rambling on November 30th, 2009

I can haz sleep?

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NaNo

by Whyy's Rambling on November 29th, 2009

Well, it has been a interesting month.

Working on NaNo.

Having so much fun at work.
Getting hit at work with the 'oh we have new certifications we have to pass and the inspectors with be here next week'
The 'why aren't you getting any Cisco certifications? No ITIL certs?'
"Well, we know we are under-staffed but corporate says we need to reduce staffing. We had to let 4 go."
"We must become more competitive in the marketplace. We need everyone to give 110% all the time. "

Getting my new toy.

http://lifehacker.com/5382505/make-a-diy-kindle-from-tablet-pc

I got the EZ Reader Pocket Pro a bit ago.
http://www.theezreader.com/
I really like it for reading books but I also have lots of Manga (printed Anime) that I like.
Also the EZ Reader will read PDF files but sometimes does not get it quite right.
So when I read the article from Popular Science on a DIY Kindle, I first laughed. then I thought of the positives.

Now I have the 'Kindle for PC', the Barnes and Noble eBook software, ComicRack, and calibre loaded on a Fujitsu Stylistic ST4121.

I also loaded Word, yWrite, a few other programs.

Booting the PC before taking a break, reading for a few minutes while eating then writing a bit right on the same platform is easier than going from reader to a PC for writing or using my Fly Fusion pen. I really can't see why tablets have not taken off. Maybe I just got lucky with my choice.
Active digitizer screen on the tablet lets me draw or write directly on the screen and it is digitized. The writing (in cursive) gets digitized and then OCR'ed and bingo you have text in whatever program you're using. 

So anyway, I had a lot of info from the Fly Fusion and the tablet that I just dumped on NaNo. real close to the total. Not sure I am going to make it over but....



Maybe I'll get a life as a christmas present.

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Neko-con

by Whyy's Rambling on November 9th, 2009

Nekocon was this weekend.

Not a bad anime con but the Embassy Suites that they have near the Coliseum just does not seem to be up to it.

Three elevators seem limited but not too bad. Wait times this year were not excessive.
Last year during the con they had a elevator breakdown, This year at least they did not have that problem but there were still some wait lines.
Not sure how many rooms they had set aside as reserved for the convention but as usual they never seem to have enough.
They also charge a lot for the room, then charge for the internet connection.

I traveled over quite a bit of TX in October and stayed in several Hilton owned hotels. All month none of them charged for internet. Yet here was a hotel doing so. $229 PER NIGHT for a 'suite' sitting room in the front, bathroom  and a bedroom in the back. and $9.99 for 24 hours connection. 34k up/ less than a meg down. 

It is just enough that I may be turning my back on Neko-con. Kinda depends on my daughter as walking around the cons buying things for her is my chief task. Taking photos like these are just my hobby :-)

I guess we will have to see what Katsu-con (feburary), Animazement (May) Otakon (July-Aug) bring.

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NaNoWriMo

by Whyy's Rambling on November 2nd, 2009

Well NaNoWriMo has started.

Ideas kinda bubbling but nothing really fit the plot I had in mind.
Stopping every few minutest to write down a plot bunny is .... different.




http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/MyMonth/68949.png

Participant Widget

The Participant Widget is called with your user id number. Example:



This one rotates to a different image (coffee mug, pens, computer, manuscript) every five minutes throughout the course of the day. When you win, the "participant" changes to "winner."
Participant Widget With Username

The Participant Widget with Username features the NaNoWriMo username attached to the user id. Example:


This one also rotates to a different image (coffee mug, pens, computer, manuscript) every five minutes throughout the course of the day. When you win, the "participant" changes to "winner."
My Month

My Month is a simple display showing overall progress and how you did on any given day. Light green and red show where you were above or below the goal for the day, bold green and red are reserved for days where you did exceptionally well or monumentally badly. Example:

Mini Graph

The MiniGraph is called with your user id number. Example:

NaNoWriMo Graph

The NaNoWriMo Graph is called with your user id number. Example:

Progress Report
View my progress report

The Progress reports is a full page detailed report on your progress. Example:

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<img [...] ">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

Well NaNoWriMo has started.

Ideas kinda bubbling but nothing really fit the plot I had in mind.
Stopping every few minutest to write down a plot bunny is .... different.

<lj-cut text="Space saver and sanity saver for the rest of you">

<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/MyMonth/68949.png">
http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/MyMonth/68949.png

Participant Widget

The Participant Widget is called with your user id number. Example:
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/LiveParticipant/68949.png" >


This one rotates to a different image (coffee mug, pens, computer, manuscript) every five minutes throughout the course of the day. When you win, the "participant" changes to "winner."
Participant Widget With Username

The Participant Widget with Username features the NaNoWriMo username attached to the user id. Example:
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/LiveSupporter/68949.png" />

This one also rotates to a different image (coffee mug, pens, computer, manuscript) every five minutes throughout the course of the day. When you win, the "participant" changes to "winner."
My Month

My Month is a simple display showing overall progress and how you did on any given day. Light green and red show where you were above or below the goal for the day, bold green and red are reserved for days where you did exceptionally well or monumentally badly. Example:
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/MyMonth/68949.png">
Mini Graph

The MiniGraph is called with your user id number. Example:
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/NanowrimoMiniGraph/68949.png" />
NaNoWriMo Graph

The NaNoWriMo Graph is called with your user id number. Example:
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/NanowrimoGraph/68949.png" />
Progress Report
View my progress report

The Progress reports is a full page detailed report on your progress. Example:
<a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/ProgressReport/68949.html">
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/MyMonth/68949.png"" />
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/MyMonth/68949.png" />

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eBook readers

by Whyy's Rambling on September 14th, 2009

Most of the PDA and handhelds that I have bought over the years have been purchased for two reasons.

Writing and reading. Due to the fact that I can read and do some other tasks at the same time they were mostly used for reading.

Some were better and some were worse but the biggest issue was that each would only read a few types of things well.



Doc, rtf. or html and MS Lit or Palm and converted Doc. It was always a hastle to juggle the form I get a story or eBook in to what the reader used.

Then comes the Amazon Kindle. Still limited in formats but you can buy the books right on-line. Then all the flap about the fact that hey they can "recall" the book.

Sony's eReader looked good for a bit. Still limited to formats and for the price no on-line store.

Then while looking for a PC for my niece at FRYS.com I found this odd little 5 inch reader.
ECTACO JetBook (5" Display, Mulit-Language, 7.5oz) e-Book Reader - Graphite
.txt, .pdf, .fb2 and .jpg file formats SD card slot  At first I laughed but I kept reading.
It was loaded with multiple languages, the CIA WorldFact book and a travel guide.

As I worked my way through the page it pointed me to another reader.

Supports multiple file formats (DOC, PDF, JPG, MP3, TXT, HTML, and many more)
Expansion SD card slot to expand storage capacity by 4 GB

Now this seemed more like it, so I kept reading.
<td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3pt; PADDING-LEFT: 3pt; WIDTH: 113.25pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 3pt; BACKGROUND: rgb(255,255,153); PADDING-TOP: 3pt; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial" width="151" valign="top">

Format Natively Support (Non DRM)

</td><td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3pt; PADDING-LEFT: 3pt; WIDTH: 297pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 3pt; PADDING-TOP: 3pt" width="396" valign="top">

PDF, DOC, RTF, HTML, TXT,  MP3, WOL, CHM, RAR/ZIP, FB2, Djvu, Epub, BMP, JPG, LIT, PRC


Looking at it agaim  Adobe PDF, doc/txt/rtf, windows help (chm), RAR/zip, the new EPUB eBook format, LIT and PRC we are talking about almost every eBook type out there.

Replaceable (by the owner) battery, SD card expansion.<td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3pt; PADDING-LEFT: 3pt; WIDTH: 113.25pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 3pt; BACKGROUND: rgb(255,255,153); PADDING-TOP: 3pt; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial" width="151" valign="top">

ePaper (E-Ink technology)  6 Inches 600*800 pixel 4 grayscale

Offered at Frys for $299

So I went looking and found
http://www.astak.com/category.asp?id=8


this lead to http://theezreader.com/

An eBook reader that does almost every ebook format with a 16GB SD card reader and a user replaceable battery. For $199 til Sep 30th.

I got mine last week. So far only a couple of the ebooks from the Usenet have caused any issues.
seems really well constructed


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The Guild – Do You Wanna Date My Avatar

by Whyy's Rambling on September 7th, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNyg1ftMIU


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Writer’s Block: Under Protest

by Whyy's Rambling on August 31st, 2009

Have you ever participated in a boycott? What did you boycott and why?


View 527 Answers

Personal boycotts only. Overstock.com because they sold me a add-on part that was more than 3 years out of date.

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Writer’s Block: Clock Punching What was your first job?

by Whyy's Rambling on August 31st, 2009

Have you ever participated in a boycott? What did you boycott and why?


View 527 Answers

Pumping gas on a boat dock, Lake of the Ozarks. Missouri. $1 an hour + Hamburger and fries + soda for lunch.
Somehow the tags got messed up. What was your first job?

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Oh so True lately.

by Whyy's Rambling on August 13th, 2009

You know that feeling you get when you are about to do something stupid and decide to do it anyways?




That's me when I wake up

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