Stories's Log
This log represents the Life and Times of the Las Vegas Dude.
<< 09/2006 < 08/2007 Calendar 10/2007 > 09/2008 >>Sign InView Other Logs
Thu 
09/13/2007 20:57:48
 Chez2199  Keep it rolling
Hey Dude
Up or down we keep on movin. Bad things happen to everyone. It's how you respond that matters.
Glad to to see you were out and about!
Thu 
09/13/2007 02:08:27
 jim  Louisville Thursday, 9-13-2007
The Ohio River, from the Gault Hotel

A veiw from the Gault

Market Street
Okay, the sky isn't really that blue. I Paint Shop Pro'd this picture. 
Wed 
09/12/2007 19:38:04
 jim  Louisville,KY-Gault
Wed 
09/12/2007 07:39:08
 jim  9/11 Remembered

Las Vegas, Nation remembers 9/11
On the sixth anniversary of one of the worst tragedies to occur in the United States, the city of Las Vegas, Clark County and the Metropolitan Police Department will remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, and the families and friends of those lost who still suffer today.
Tue 
09/11/2007 22:52:00
 jim  Looking for Jobs in all the Wrong Places
Where are we going to be in few months?
What am I going to be doing to make a living?
I worry about these things.
We're in a strange place, thousands of miles from home, and home won't be home when we get back.
I see life as being a dream in the making, but for right now, we're lacking the dream.
Its strange. Life is going in a downhill slope when it should be going up.
Good times meets bad, and whoosh, we've got nothing.
Life is a foggy place right now.
Tue 
09/11/2007 12:12:32
 jim  Its a gloomy day outside in Louisville
Thats good, cause it matches my mood.
Its 70 degrees out there folks, and its cloudy, dark, dank, and damp.
-- Good Time Jimmy's Got the Blues --
I'm waiting on a meeting, where I may or may not be involved, where 100 people may attend, where they may decide if my report column belongs on a report or not, and if they don't get to me after an hour, I'll get to spend another month trying to install the same report, again. Now that's not cool. On the other hand, I get to hang out longer, which is cool, kind of.
-- On the flip side, I put together an email program that runs off the Tandem. Now that's cool.
Of course, if anyone learns I have it, it'll probably be purged, and I'll probably be fired. And that's not cool.
Wed 
09/12/2007 19:50:03
 Chez2199   (Reply).Its a gloomy day outside in Louisville
Don't feel the blues my friend. Stick to the basics, life is good, friends are fun, and a job is only a job don't let it get to you.
Tue 
09/11/2007 03:31:25
 jim  A Kentucky Segway Dealerership is available
The closest one is in Cincinnati.
Click here for the link: http://www.segway.com/about-segway/become-a-partner.php
It might pay to visit that store at:
Segway of Ohio

1053 Gregory St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: 513.225.1583
Image of i2Image of x2Image of i2 CommuterImage of x2 AdventureImage of x2 Golf
They are also looking for a dealership at the Lakes, NV, and Red Rock, NV.
These things have a range of 24 miles.
Wed 
09/12/2007 19:51:57
 Chez2199   (Reply).A Kentucky Segway Dealerership is available
These things never did sell like people thought they would, we have a couple at work. They are fun to drive i've been on it a few times
Sun 
09/09/2007 20:16:54
 Chez2199  .Squirt has left the building!
So no one went to animal control to pick him up? or am i missing something?
Fri 
09/07/2007 12:22:16
 becky  Tandem in Seattle
Thu 
09/06/2007 23:16:08
 jim  Watched a Caesars show gratis Resee!
We ate at the buffet which was kind of pricey, but it was good.
We sat at Resee's station and she comped us to see Anthony Cools hypnotist show.
Pretty cool. Of course, I am always a skeptic.
The show was pretty lewd. Would shy people really do those things?
I tried to volunteer, cause I've always got to see things happen for myself.
We talked to an older lady who was in the show, on our way out.
She was picked from the audience, and did some pretty naughty things on stage while hypnotized.
Her husband said he knew the hypnotist and he was a really decent guy.
Now I wondered how he could say that, if she was picked at random from the audience, and just left the show.
hmmm.
Thu 
09/06/2007 06:17:57
 jim  My HS buddy starts September 17th
That would be Allen H. He'll be about 40 miles NE of here.
We went to Livingston High School together. He even lived in Colorado with me in the 70's.
This life is full of coincidental circles, aint it?
I was born in Kentucky, I moved west, then I find myself working in Kentucky 30 years later. Allen lives in Montana, now he's working 40 miles away. And there's Rod, one of the few friends I have left from the 90's, who is living 10 miles away. I would never think we would end up here, near Louisville. Its just not very likely.
Sometimes I think there are no coincidents at all.
At times, it seems like everything has been planned for us.
That would mean there is no chaos, and nothing we do is by choice
Our lives would be like just another book, on the shelves of a infinite library. 
My favorite stories are where the end takes you back to the beginning.
I wonder if moths think of light bulbs, the way we think of bars.
Maybe they're not circling the bulb, pointlessly. Maybe they are flying in circles to get high, while waiting for their cocoon buddies to come and hang out...hahaha.
Wed 
09/05/2007 22:20:34
 jim  Talked to Peter, and Ms Beatty.
Peter is taking off in 3 days...
He's doing a programming stint up north.
If you're reading this, good luck Peter. We'll miss ya.
Hope to see ya hangin around the blog.
Just kick back, take your shoes off, put some foil on your head...
and write us a line or two.
Ate steak at the Saddle Ridge.
Great Food, and at great prices.
And its probably cruel of me, but I love to chuckle at people who get drunk...and try to dance.
They actually dance better than I do when I'm sober.
See, I skipped learning the 2 step, and created the 100 step method of dancing.
Its kind of like a little kid inventing his own language.
My slow dancing is more like groping.
Just talked to Miss Beatty downstairs
She's an interesting person who's seen a lot, has an attitude, and is not afraid to be blunt.
I like that.
She said "People never change. You can't change people".
I said "People are like rocks on a mountain. You can destroy them, but why not just enjoy them, walk around them or climb them".
She said "Becky, he just called you a rock". I said, "Well, I have climbed her, and I do enjoy her. She is my ROCK".
No air conditioner tonight.
Its going to be a long, hot, summer night.
Tue 
09/04/2007 13:03:44
 jim  What is Unit and Regression Testing?
Non-XP terminology (?), not quite synonymous with ProgrammerTest (a UnitTest measures a unit of software, without specifying why, while a ProgrammerTest assists programmers in development, without specifying how).
(Note that although most of the text on this Wiki uses the term UnitTest, the canonical ExtremeProgramming name has been changed to ProgrammerTest.)
UnitTests are programs written to run in batches and test classes. Each typically sends a class a fixed message and verifies it returns the predicted answer.
UnitTests are a key component of software engineering, and the ExtremeProgramming discipline leverages them to permit easy code changes. Developers write tests for every class they produce. The tests are intended to test every aspect of the class that could conceivably not work. (Do test adding and removing, don't test accessors.)
Key here is to CodeUnitTestFirst.
UnitTests are all combined into a huge suite of tests, using e.g. KentBeck's TestingFramework. When developers go to release new code, they run all the unit tests, not just theirs, on the integration machine. The tests must run at 100%. If any test fails, they figure out why and fix the problem. The problem certainly resides in something they did ... since they know the tests ran at 100% the last time anything was released.
Of course, sometimes the tests let something slip through. When that happens, developers unconditionally enhance the unit tests so that that problem, and any similar one that comes to mind, won't happen again.
Regression testing is any type of software testing which seeks to uncover regression bugs. Regression bugs occur whenever software functionality that previously worked as desired, stops working or no longer works in the same way that was previously planned. Typically regression bugs occur as an unintended consequence of program changes.
Tandem has Unit Testing available
Kind of. Tandem doesn't really have objects in the sense this term implies.
You could write classes of programs, but I've never seen anyone do that.
And you could test it with unit testers, and test scripts.
However, you have to purchase ENCORE (Capture and Replay) to use it. I set it up in my first job.
I haven't seen anyone use it since.
So, when BA Merchants talks about unit testing, I'd guess they don't know what they are saying.
They don't even have ENABLE or ENLITEN.
Mon 
09/03/2007 20:49:57
 jim  We did it all - 800 miles in 2 days.
Woods-N-Water
We went camping Friday night, and Saturday night, took off Sunday.

Friday night, we were walking around the lake, and the water gave off little points of light. I went to find out what kind of bug did that, and, wouldn't you know, it was mud 3 foot deep and now I have a sore throat. Rod caught a couple of fish, and we played Corn Hole.
Columbus, IN

Cute little town with some strange art. We went through it twice
Indianapolis, IN
The round-a-bout was closed, but we toured around it all.

Chicago, IL - I LOVE CHICAGO!!!

When you come into town, you notice how HUGE everything is. Nothing is small. The city looks dynamic! We ate Chicago dogs, walked downtown, saw the Navy Pier, the Great Lakes, and an evil ghetto. We stopped by Portillos, and a local pub.

The people were very friendly, and I learned a lot.
The sunset over Lake Michigan

First thing, before entering the park, we got some smoked ribs from a preacher man. Good ribs. The Sand Dunes beach along the south shore was GREAT! We didn't even think people would be there.

The dunes were awsome, people were all over them. They were over 300 feet tall. The beach was equally incredible. Lake Michigan is not like the ocean at all. It seems to be missing the kelp, waves, and the smell. We didn't get to go in the water though. We got there just in time to watch the sunset. Awesome.
Kalamazoo, MI
What...I blinked.
Lansing, MI

Its the Capitol of Michigan, and its where BOA has a sister site. We checked out several parks and gardens. Becky saw her elementary, middle and high school. We Motel 6'd it there.
Battle Creek, MI
Neat! We saw Kellogs City. Its a great looking small town.
During the whole 800 mile trip, we only saw one wreck.
We even saw an ultralight flying over the road!!!
I'll put pictures up after I catch my breath.
Fri 
08/31/2007 13:44:35
 becky  Got a call
Hey Babe
I got a call from Barringtons people. They called on your phone.
They said the manager there had the wrong address. I gave them
are right address. The lady I talked to said she will mail out the check
today. That's great new's that you got to show about the Tandem. I'm
proud of you. Go Baby Go!!!!!!. Would you mind if I went to the food
court to get something to eat?

Love Ya
Becky
Fri 
08/31/2007 12:41:58
 becky  Hey Babe
I found my charger for my camera it was in my drawer lol.
I picked out 7 movies for the trip. I did'nt really know which
one's to pick so i went ahead and just picked out what was best.
How is your day going? everything is packed and i have everything
in the livingroom.
Love You
Becky
Fri 
08/31/2007 06:11:21
 jim  The Weekend Plans

Got the air couch in the the camper and we're all packed up.
The maps are loaded and we're ready to truck.
Friday Night
Its Woods-n-Water Kampground, Columbus, Indiana (I65x54,1 hr)
We're hooking up with Rod, Resee and Jessica for a fun filled night of Corn Holing.
Saturday morning
We're headed to Indianapolis (I65,1 hr)
We'll check out their downtown area.
Saturday afternoon
Lansing, Michigan (I70,4 hrs).
While there, we'll reminisce. Becky used to live there. 
I'm going to hear a lot of, "OOOH, Look, thats where I got my lunch box". So cute, haha.
Lansing has a sister processing center for where I work, so most people at work think I'm crazy.
We'll either find a motel, a campground or sleep at a truck stop.
Sunday morning
Grand Rapids (I96, 1 hr)
I'm not sure what we'll see there.
Sunday afternoon
Chicago (I196/I94, 3 hrs)
The route will take us along the shores of Lake Michigan.
I want to hang out at the Chicago navy pier on Lake Shore drive (SR41) .
Monday Morning
Back to Woods-n-Water Kampground, Columbus, Indiana (I90,I65x54,4 hrs)
Back with Rod and his folks.
Monday Afternoon
Back to Louisville (I65, 1 hr).

Wed 
08/29/2007 20:34:08
 jim  Fourth Street Live
Wed 
08/29/2007 19:35:28
 jim  Marks Feed Store BBQ
Its almost as good as mine. So far, in Louisville its the BEST!
Wed 
08/29/2007 11:41:08
 jim  Louisville,KY-BAMS SmokersJail
Wed 
08/29/2007 06:41:54
 jim  My life here is starting to sound country!
My Mustang engine bombed, the car had a flat, and so did my truck.
My Vegas air conditioner's a toaster, and my throat feels like yuck.
I'm feelin really down cause my implementations blew.
I'm all broke agin, and just don't know what to do.
Then I bought some expresso and now I don't care.
Cause I'm bouncing off the walls of this apartment everywhere!
Chorus:
Expresso, Expresso, or how I love Expresso.
Just had a few cups, gotta go!
Expresso, Expresso, now I gotta have Expresso.
Don't care bout things, gotta go!

Tue 
08/28/2007 08:10:28
 jim  I wanna find who this is
Mon 
08/27/2007 07:41:46
 jim  Whats Brad and Angelina up to now?
Most of us know more about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie than we know about our own relatives.
Do you believe what you read?
From what I've read:
- A lot of the world still thinks the German death camps were fiction.
- A lot of people associate Bush with Hitler
- Many think the Twin Towers catastrophy was caused by our government.
What is truth? Is it my perspective? Yours? Or a strangers?
I think the only way I can really decide for myself what is real, or not real,
is by actually seeing something, or knowing somebody whose actually seen something.
This is where the internet, telephones and mail become so important to spreading the truth.
The internet is full of junk.
But you can sift through a hay stack and find a needle...if you have a strong enough magnet.
That metaphorical magnet is communication between people that you know are reasonable.
When I hear from people that I know, that others are being brutalized, or I find people are dissappearing in the middle of the night; then, and only then, will I rebel against the government.
But the way I see it, most of us are so spoiled by modern comforts, that we need to create enemies and heroes.
Because, our lives too boring to talk about.
Are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie really that interesting?
Sun 
08/26/2007 23:14:29
 jim  Blue Grass, the knobs, and the Triathlon
The weekend started with a Blue Grass Festival. We caught the last hour of it.

We heard bombs going off.
That led us too Fort Knox. The GPS system took us through a one laned road, that wound through tall corn fields. It was pretty wild!!!

Fort Knox about confiscated my camera for taking pictures of a tank. So I don't have pictures of that. We went to the Science Museum, on Saturday. The movies were great, but I lost my pix of Main Street.
Here, we're at the Triathlon.
2,100 Ironmen (and women) participated in 2 miles of swimming, 2 miles biking, and 2 miles running.

I'd guess there were probably 2,000 people downtown.

The race lasted to midnight.
I over heard from J Gumbo's at closing, their shift pulled in $2,200. Wow.
Sun 
08/26/2007 20:25:00
 jim  What does the Fourth Reich mean?
This is a building is at the Coronado's military base near San Diego, California.
See http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/09/346333.shtml to read more.
Decide for yourself, if you believe what they are saying.
Why would someone be proud to call themselves part of any of the Reichs? hmmm.

First off, the word Reich refers to the ancient Germanic lands.
The 1st Reich - The Holy Roman Empire. It started in Germany and spread during a period from the 9th to 19th century.
The 2nd Reich - The German Empire, ruled by the Hohenzollern dynasty in Prussia from 1871 to 1919. It set the roots for Germany at the beginning of WWI. It fell at the end of WWI.
The 3rd Reich - Nazi Germany, ruled by Hitler from 1933 to 1945. His desire was to reunity the Holy Roman Empire and restore Germany back to its glory days. It ended with WWII.
The 4th Reich - A term used by Neo Nazis, used to describe the establishment of the Western Imperium and promote the Aryan Race. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Reich.
Why do I mention this now?
Some groups of people think the US is heading the Fourth Reich, using the same tactics of propaganda that Hitler used. See http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/reich.html as an example.
It scares me to think any of this is true.
So much of what we read is garbage.
Sat 
08/25/2007 23:51:57
 Chez2199  .Went to a Blue Grass Festival
were they rubber gloves? weird that you can't take a picture of a tank. Iv'e been on that base in the past to golf and have never as much seen any military guys.
Fri 
08/24/2007 22:38:40
 jim  Louisville,KY-4th St Live-Rock Babes
Fri 
08/24/2007 22:38:40
 jim   (Reply)Louisville,KY-4thSt Rock Babes
Fri 
08/24/2007 05:30:46
 jim  Fourth Street Live-Again

The Pub downtown is a very, Cheers like bar.
They had a two player band, and the guitar dude was great. Becky and I were kissing during one of their Eric Clapton songs and they mentioned how every time they played, people kissed. So, when they started their next song, Becky and I really played it up. The crowd was roaring. It hilarious.

Down at J Gumbos.
They had the Two Cajuns playing their fanatical songs. One of them gave me some drums sticks, and hey, I got up there and played. No one has ever accused me of being shy! I did good. But on the next set, I played the washboard, and I really stunk. Some guy recorded it, and all I could think of was how I blew a concert in Murray, KY, because my clarinet's reed was shot and I had solos to play.
The Rock Bar
This place is a little hard to find. I think its at 401 S 4th, anyway, we just breezed on threw last night. We were told, on the weekends, the crowd gets heavy. It had a 60's theme to it, with swings hanging from the ceiling where Go Go girls do their thing. With their disco lights, and big dance floor, they've revived the ambiance.
Wed 
08/22/2007 23:10:43
 jim  Out today. Had a nasty sore throat.
Just felt yucky, so I stayed in and slept most the day.
There was a fire alarm around noon which was pretty cool.
Loud sucker. Everybody was down in the lobby.
Fire Trucks were outside. Firemen were running in and out.
It turns out, some painters were spraying a hallway, and sprayed a smoke detector on the 4th floor.
Tue 
08/21/2007 19:25:02
 jim  We could mail our furniture home!
We have an inflatable bed, an inflatable couch, a roll up campground table, and two fold up popason chairs. The rest are plastic Walmart drawers.
If there was an incredible flood here, we'd be set!!! All we'd need is a rope to tie everything together with.
(Thats a dangling preposition btw).
The weather this morning was awesome.
It rained hard, with thunder and lightning all around. I love how most people come in late at the bank when it rains. I think they're worried about an incredible flood.
I love it though. I went outside, and a bolt of lightning hit the ground 1,500 feet away.
And there I was, under a tree, without a kite!
Sun 
08/19/2007 18:19:47
 Chez2199  .Resees Mom passed away
Very Nice Thank You Jim & Becky
Thu 
08/16/2007 05:56:21
 Jim  4th Street with Danielle Peck
Wed 
08/15/2007 07:10:26
 Jim  Trees with thorns
I was looking at a tree while on a break.
There's really not much to do outside, but study the trees.
I got to wondering, how did this tree come to have thorns?
Naturally, the tree wants to protect its fruit from animals, but how did it come up with the thorn idea?
I asked this question, because, after all, I'm Jim.
I got to thinking about how the tree, over millions of years, must have developed all kinds of things to protect itself better.
Ears, hands, and legs are out because plants don't tend to grow animal parts well (eg: muscles). The image is funny, though.
So, that leaves things that the plant can build, like shapes and chemicals.
That could result in lots of leaves, thorns, poisons, razor sharp bark, and smell.
I can't think of any other way for the tree to protect itself, other than just having nothing animals want.
I also noticed these trees had swarms of tiny white bugs
They come come out every now and then, and they cover the tree, making the shady side white!
Most people suggested that the bugs were nasty. I'd heard reactions like: Ewwee! Someone should spray them.
But there were probably over 10,000 of these little life forms, crawling around on the tree.
Each of them probably regard their life as important as we do ours. I thought they were beautiful.
I kind of thought these bugs were necessary for the tree somehow.
What I saw was, these bugs coming out of the roots, cleaning up the bark, and dying.
I couldn't help but wonder how long that friendship, between the insects and the trees, took to foster.
In the end, it made me wonder what function we serve in nature.
What do we clean up or protect?
Was our species designed to escape this planet and spread life throughout the universe?
Or are we here just to devour all of the tasty animals, decreasing their populations?
All this from a thorny tree with bugs on it.
Guess I was bored. lol.
Sun 
08/12/2007 06:34:33
 Jim  Which voltage: 110/120/220/240/420/480?
Somewhere along the way, I decided to stick with 120vac/240vac, because its more symmetrical.
I've been confused on the 220/240 voltages for decades.
I've heard people say they have 220v coming into the house, and 120v at the outlets.
To me, that never made any sense. It has to be 240v coming into the house or 110v at the outlets.
Because at our house, 2 legs of 120 volts (phase shifted) come into the house. One leg goes to the lights, the other leg goes to the outlets. The 240 volts for the Air Conditioner and the clothes dryer is bridged in between the two 120 volt lines.
Logically, the power coming into the house has to be called 240 volts, because it comes from 2 x 120 volt lines.
BTW - It would be insane to wire a wall outlet with the leg thats used for the lights. It would be phase shifted from the other wall outlets, and that could be very bad. The house has basically two, parallel circuits that are out of phase.
I just learned that the 420v, 440v and 480v are different.
I wasn't aware of that. I think now, I'm more confused than ever about the whole thing.
I suppose it might not have made much difference to me when I was working with Air Conditioning. I always trusted the installer to get that part right. We always changed out bad parts.

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