Camping at Seminole Ranch

A relaxing weekend at Seminole Ranch back in November.  The pavilion in front was built by the St. Johns River Water Management District.  The pavilion in the back was built by Alex Clark, Eagle Scout, Troop 720, Faith-Viera Lutheran Church.  The campsite is on a small hill right on the St. Johns River.

What are you people looking at?

I-X Marks the Start

Excitement was in the air. It was a little hard to tell after about 15 trips out the door to peer at the lightning towers in the distance, but it was there. Then, on a beautiful Wednesday morning, a new start took off.

Florida Today sometimes annoys me with the corny puns on the front page (and I'm a punny guy) but this was an historic headline. The Shuttle, wonderful flyer that she is, has just about flown her last. She was a grand science project, and truly marvelous, but it's time to move on. Whether she flies until 2010, 2011, or 2014, her days are numbered.

As the Ares I-X engine burned out and she began drifting to a certain splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, the crowd outside the Headquarters Building broke into spontaneous applause. I haven't seen that since Challenger return to flight. There was something new and fresh in the air. Those of us that never get near a pad or launch control room don't often feel the excitement that the controller and hands on people feel, but this launch was something special and everyone knew it.

I've seen it in the halls, in the lunchroom, and around the center. The engineers are getting excited. Someone that doesn't work at KSC, taking a walk down the hall at headquarters, might not discern it. I've been there 22 years and I can tell the difference between excitement and the same old thing. People are excited. It's a good thing.

We've got a new pad, new rocket, new firing room, new firing room windows, new O&C, new Base Operations Contractor, and soon a new launch contractor, and a bunch of new, young engineers.

We don't know what Congress and Obama are going to do, but it's now a sure thing that something new is coming. Bring it on. GO ORION!!

Legacy Floppy Data

Did you ever forget to copy forward your legacy data? From a post at www.forum.manifold.net...

Found my backup floppies from 1994. Discovered that no recent Microsoft backup software will recover files from Microsoft’s backup program circa 1994. Found an old copy of MS-DOS 6.2. Found an old laptop with no operating system on it and installed DOS. Ran MSBACKUP to recover the files. Copied them to more floppies. Found another old laptop running Windows XP that has a floppy drive. Used it to copy the files from floppies to a stick. Used the stick to get the files onto my working machine, which has no floppy drive. Discovered that no modern version of Access will open v 1.x files. Found that Open Office Base will open Access 1.x files. Copied data from Open Office Base to Open Office Spreadsheet and then exported from OOS to Excel. I love Microsoft.

Saturday September 19

Wake up for the last time in a Comfort Inn, eat waffles, and head for Florida. It was a great two weeks. We arrived home safe, and sound, praise the Lord!

Friday September 18

We continued down the peninsula through Delaware, Maryland, and then Virginia. South of Salisbury we got off the main highway and drove a few miles east to NASA Wallops Island base and then out to Chincoteague Island. We stopped at the visitor's center and looked at the Chincoteague Ponies, made famous by Marguerite Henry in her book "Misty".
At the end of the peninsula is the Cheasapeake Bridge/Tunnel. The whole thing is about 15 miles with two tunnels underneath the ocean (instead of bridges). In the middle its as though you are out in the ocean in your car. Pretty cool.

We continued across the bay, into Norfolk, north across another bridge/tunnel and into Hampton. We went to the Mariner's Museum there and visited for several hours. It was my second visit and I really like that place. I think that I still have a couple of days worth of visits to go to say that I've really visited. We ended our day in Smithfield, NC. Our vacationing was over. Tomorrow we would drive all day to get home!

Thursday September 17

We started out the day with Carol's homemade waffle in the Comfort Inn Waffle Maker. (She loves those things :-)) In the morning we drove from Allentown down to Philadelphia. That was an adventure. Philly was the only truly large city that we entered during our trip. We didn't get lost but you can ask Carol sometime about how she felt about my route choice to downtown!

We entered from the northwest, drove by the Franklin Institute and around the huge Franklin traffic circle. There in front of us was a very large, ornate, 1800's style building. Thinking that we were there we drove around in a circle about three times to find a parking spot. We had to pass several open parking garages because the truck looked like it is taller than the 6ft tall entrances. We walked across the street and began wandering around this huge, very non-touristry edifice. We wandered around until we found a very small visitor center in one of the halls.

Some very nice ladies were there ready to tell us that we were completely confused. We had landed at the Philadelphia City Hall. Historical (1860's) for sure, but not the history we were looking for. That would be eight blocks down Market St.

Back to the truck, pay the folks for our half hour and drive around some more looking for a parking spot. At least once we parked, we were in the correct area of town. We walked down the street to the open mall area in front of Independence Hall and immediately noticed the US Mint. Ok, that sounds like fun, so in we went to see coins made. It's kind of cool to see a box that is about four feet square and three feet high full of pennies!

We walked across the street to Constitution Hall. It was full of shcool kids on tours and did not seem to have much we really wanted to see so we headed out down the grassy mall to Independence Hall. We went to the ticket booth to get into one of the half-hourly tours. Our tickets were for about an hour in the future so we asked around about Philly Cheesesteaks. We were referred to Sonny's, down Market St.We walked down there and we each had a freshly cut and cooked cheesesteak. Don't ask anyone for a Steak and Cheese sandwich because they will look at you with a quizzical look and make you a baloney sandwich. It's a cheesesteak!

Back to our tour and a history lesson from an fellow that teaches like a college professor. This guy really knew his stuff. Ind. Hall is really only two rooms but it's a very cool place. Very moving.

We then walked across the street to the liberty bell museum. The window behind the bell is very large and faces Independence Hall. Again, very moving. We found the truck and escaped the city just ahead of the rush hour traffic. We drove on down the peninsula to Salisbury, MD for the night.

Wednesday September 16

Did a lot of driving. Drove through the rain for much of the afternoon. Did not like the turnpike from Scranton to Allentown! Very narrow and wet. Drove around Boston and New York cities. We found a Comfort Inn near the amusement park complex. The bar and restaurant were full of celebrating business people so we found a place called Pistachios for dinner. Sort of an upscale grill and bar. Nice.

Tuesday September 15

Tuesday was a busy travel day for us. We left Ellsworth after breakfast and headed down the Maine coastline on US-1. Each little town along the coast is at the head of a bay. Before and after each small town is a road that leads down the peninsula to the point. Some of the points have lighthouses. We visited two lighthouses and several ports.

We stopped in Searsport and found the Penobscot Mariner's Museum. The museum is a collection of historic buildings in the center of town. There are several houses with displays inside and then outside are the barns and boathouses filled with a variety of small to medium boats. We spent most of the morning wandering through and then drove across the street to the harbor and had a picnic lunch at a city park overlooking the bay. It was hard to get up and leave. We just wanted to sit and enjoy. Perhaps it was the hard picnic table bench that helped us along. Fortunately we didn't get out the folding chairs as we might not have gotten out of town before dinner.

We stopped in Camden and wandered around the port, watched a schooner dock and let it's passengers off, shopped, and ice creamed! Carol found some dresses for the granddaughters and a new top. We drove out to the Marshall Point lighthouse. Eventually we jumped on I-95 for the short drive into Portland and our Comfort Inn. After settling in we drove to downtown Portland and had dinner at Street and Co. Very fishy but Carol liked it. I had a good grilled tuna steak. Very ritzy with excellent wait staff (Fodor's pick!).

Monday September 14

Woke up this morning and had breakfast here at the Comfort Inn. Took off for Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. Had a 30 minute traffic jam at the bridge to the island, and then everything was great from there.

We stopped at the park visitor's center and bought our car pass for the day. We went a little ways into town to the grocery store and bought sandwiches and chips for lunch. Then it was back to the "Loop Road". We rode up to the top of Cadillac Mountain and looked at the 360 degree views. The morning started off cool but clear. Some clouds rolled in as we were driving down off the mountain, but they later dissapated and we had a beautiful afternoon. We stopped at Sand Beach and Thunder Hole.

We had lunch at Bear Brook Picnic Area. We continued around the loop road looking at all of the sights to Jordan House Pond. Carol had a popover with butter and strawberry jam and warm tea. I had a popover filled with homemade ice cream and iced tea. We finished the loop road and parked in town on the waterfront. We shopped up Main St. and Cottage Ln and then went to dinner at the Quarterdeck restaurant overlooking the harbor. Carol ordered a whole, steamed lobster. I think that she had fun!

Back to the Comfort Inn for sleep.

Sunday September 13

Got up early and headed out across Vermont and New Hampshire. Very hilly with lots of small villages and towns. Stopped at Moosebrook State Park in New Hampshire and picniced in the park. The park is just west of Gorham and the road to Mt. Washington is just east of town.

We drove out SR-16 to the park and then up the 8 miles to the top. The last 4 miles were in blowing, impenetrable fog. It was so foggy we got soaking wet walking into the observatory/museum. Scary ride up and down. Once in a life time thing. Don't need to go back. That's Larry pointing at the fog :-)

We are in Ellsworth, ME tonight. Gateway to Acadia and Bar Harbor!

Saturday September 12

Walked back over to the falls and visited the gift shop. Drove over to Goat Island, which is in the middle of the falls and shopped some more. Wandered along the waterway, crossed the Erie Canal, and got on I-90 in Buffalo.

Stopped at a Sbarro's on the turnpike and had a piece of pizza and then continued on to Vermont. Had some more Italian at Pope's Italian and Pizza and then on into Killington, VT. The New York driving was very similar to Michigan. Lots of farms and grain fields. Vermont is very woodsy with small towns. There were a bunch of bikers at the Comfort Inn and we had breakfast with a bunch of them. Some sort of parade in the area.

Friday September 11

Drove through Michigan to Port Huron, MI and then through Canada to Niagara Falls, NY. Walked along the falls and had dinner at the Red Coach Inn. Went back to the falls and saw the lights on the mist. We camped out at the Quality Inn just up the hill from the falls. Never had to move the truck once we got here. Very nice! There was a blues festival with food vendors and bands playing in the park. Fun evening.

Thursday September 10

We hopped in the Titan with Jim and went to Pinkney recreation area for a hike around Pickerel Lake. We spent the afternoon touring around Michigan State Univ. Met Mom and Kathy at Clara's Train Station Restaurant in downtown Lansing for dinner. Spent the evening hanging valences and curtains at Mom's.

Wednesday September 9

Had lunch at Grand Lakes and then went into Lansing. We visited the state capitol, the Michigan Museum of Surveying and the R. E. Olds museum of transportation. Stopped at Applebees for dinner and at Lowes for curtain rods on the way home.

Tuesday September 8

Jumped up and headed out to Turkeyville, MI. Visited the country store, had a big turkey dinner and saw Oklahoma, the musical. Stopped in Battle Creek but there are no longer any cereal tours there. Stopped at the Delhi Cafe for dinner.

Monday September 7

Drove through the rest of Ohio and then Michigan. We stopped in Dundee, Michigan to visit the new Cabela's store there. Finished up the day at Mom's house in Holt, Michigan. Visited for a bit and then went to my brother Jim's for dinner in Webberville. Feasted on ribs, and veggies and stuff!

Sunday September 6

Travelled through Georgia, Tenn, Kentucky, and a lot of Ohio. Stayed in Piqua, OH. Long day.

Lake Park, Georgia

We are ensconced in the Quality Inn off I-75 in Lake Park, GA. Lake Park is just 5 miles into Georgia. Had a good dinner at the Mexican Restraurant across the street.

We met a lot of great people at Anne Taylor's memorial service this afternoon. A lot of folks missing her tonight. The service was hosted by the Joy quilting society. They make some really nice quilts there in north Florida.

The netbook is booking tonight! Go Gators.

It's time to go...

Larry and Carol are going to be on the road for two weeks.

We are planning on stopping in north Florida for Anne Taylor's memorial service on Saturday.

Saturday evening we have a reservation in Lake Park, GA. and then Sunday it's off to Michigan with a stop in Piqua, OH and maybe a "quick" stop in Dundee, MI at the Cabela's :-)

Happy Birthday Carol!

No one likes a hungry baby, least of all my wife. She's always feeding someone. Happy Birthday Sweety.

Be careful. Don't go here!

If you download MSTinker DON'T PLAY IT!

Product warning: addiction hazard.

Man I love this game. I know, I'm simple. I just don't like "twitchy" games. I like to have time to think through the problem. I really liked "Incredible Machine" and "Lemmings". I'm done with Tinker. I finished all three levels. Now about that Tinker editor...

Son Timothy working as a rocket scientist. Well, actually, sort of a rocket launchpad scientist. I'm not sure what he's doing there in that maze of steel and iron, but it looks pretty cool.

Irwin Quick Grip

I like looking at new and useful things. Through a friend (thanks Don!) I discovered Irwin Quick Grip clamps. These things are great. I build things in my yard, and I usually work alone. This clamp really makes putting something together much easier.

A lot of my projects involve treated wood, including 4X4s and 2X6s. In the picture above, I'm attaching a horizontal 2X6 to a vertical 4X4 as part of a canoe rack. I attach them together with deck screws. I held the 2X6 up against the poles and marked with my thumb where one of the screws would go. Took the board down and started the screw. Put the board back up against the poles with the level balanced on top. Holding the board against the poles, at level, with one hand, I reached out and clamped one end with the Quick Grip. I then pulled the drill out of my pocket and put the screw into the post on the other end. Voila!, my 2X6 is in place and ready for the rest of the screws.

In the past I used a large C clamp. Imagine holding a board up with one hand and clamping one end of it with the other hand and the C clamp. I hope that the guy or team at Irwin that invented this got a bonus!

Sydney's First Sleep Over

Friday, July 17 was Tim and Mary's fifth anniversary. They went to Melbourne Beach for the night and Carol and I had Sydney for her first sleepover away from home. We played with toys, banged on the piano, swam in the pool and ate lots of Veggie Chips!
Sunday we took the boat from Kiwanis Island to the Pineda Causeway and back. We drifted for a while and had lunch down by the causeway. Sydney went for a swim with Mommy and Daddy.

ChrisW at:
http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2009/07/06/here-comes-the-anti-database-movement/#comment-42942

said:
Most places I’ve worked (as a mainstream Oracle developer), the biggest problem is not that the relational model is not appropriate, but that the people building the systems don’t understand the model in the first place. And this has become a much bigger problem since OO languages like Java took over the middle tier application space, because there is still a tendency for inexperienced OO developers to regard the database as simply a glorified flat-file, rather than a massively powerful tool for managing your data in a robust and flexible manner. So they end up writing lots of complex processing to do stuff that a database is already designed to do for you really easily. Then they complain about the nasty old relational database.

Extremely well said!!

June 15, 1974
Happy Anniversary
Larry and Carol
June 2009
35 Years

Scout Camp at Raven Knob

Went to Raven Knob Scout Reservation with Troop 720 for a week of summer camp (June 20 to 27). We had a very good week.

Raven Knob has a good program and the Scouts really enjoy it. We stayed in Red Oak campsite on the east side of the reservation. Got a lot of exercise walking in the hills. Zach popped himself in the lip with the butt end of a shotgun, but otherwise no injuries.

The picture above is from the Cumberland Knob overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Ignore the man-space issues with this picture. No rules were violated during the making of this photo :-)

I work here

My cubicle in Dilbert land. Here is where I spend most of my daylight hours during the week (currently in ColdFusion, html, css, and SQL).

Using your tools

Move heavy stuff to a staging area with a hand truck. Use the engine hoise to lift it into the truck for the trip to the dump.

It's kind of slow and tedious but doesn't strain my back. Palmettos are gone and the boat parking area is ready for improvement.

XML is case sensitive

Say it again three times...
XML is case sensitive
XML is case sen...
Anyway, I knew that . Well formed XML is case sensitive. I'm sending data to Excel, so what's wrong with my code:

<Workbook>
  <Worksheet>
    <table>
      <Row>
        <Cell>
        </Cell>
      </Row>
    </table>
  </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

All of the XML editors say it's perfectly fine XML but Excel doesn't like it. It seems to open the file but nothing displays. Remember, XML is case sensitive! Excel's XML tags are also case sensitive:

<Workbook>
  <Worksheet>
    <Table>
      <Row>
        <Cell>
        </Cell>
      </Row>
    </Table>
  </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Thus, to open XML in Excel, the tags must be spelled exactly as above.
<table> with a lower case t won't do!!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!

I changed out the motherboard in my computer but now I can't find a driver for the RealTek network card. It's a 64bit processor and I'm stumped! MSI keeps wanting me to run the auto updater, but that won't work without a connection to the internet! Duh!!

VB - Tricky little error

I copied some code today for an Access 2007 project. Just couldn't get it to work. I finally looked very closely at the code. Do you see the difference between the two lines above? The top line works correctly. The bottom line does not.

The bottom line looks like the code that I copied. Notice the opposite facing quote marks. They don't work in Access 2007 VB. Go figure. Looks like the author of the post that I got this code from was writing his article with an MSWord editor and it "corrected" his code for him.

Relay for Life at Rockledge High

The Relay for Life and Taste of Rockledge is tonight, Friday, May 1 at the Rockledge High track. There are usually lots of cookies, brownies and goodies. Come on out and walk around the track for a little exercise and eat some goodies!

Family Fest is this Saturday from 1:00pm to 5:00pm at the Spacecoast Stadium on Stadium Parkway in Viera. Families are invited. Tickets to the game Saturday evening may be purchased at the Manatee table. Tickets include seat, hot dog and a drink. Carol and I are planning on staying for the game and enjoying an evening out in our beautiful, Brevard spring weather!

Turns out this thing is great for pulling palmettos out of the ground. Really helps to have some large pine trees nearby.

Econ River

I was looking at the Econlockhatchee River where we are going camping in May. There are several geocaches along the river where we will be staying. Bring your GPS and I'll supply the coordinates and maps.

Caches: Bob, Floogie, The Bridge at Arnhem, Econ River Flood, Primary Warning

Access2007 - Secret Trick 01

I wanted a drop-down (ComboBox) with two columns. The first column holds the ID of the row I'm looking at and the second column holds the information, in this case the Subsystem. I want to see Subsystem in the drop-down but use the ID in my database. I don't want the ID to be displayed in the drop-down.

Here's the secret. Set the first column width to 0! The Column Widths property is a comma delimited list of widths so you can define it for every column displayed, or not display a column.

T720: Suntree-Viera Library Book Fair

Troop 720

Suntree-Viera Library Book Fair

5:00pm

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Help set up for the annual Book Fair

Wear Class A uniform!!

Santa Fe River

We just returned from a weekend on the Santa Fe River. The river was about normal at the outfitter's place (High Springs, FL) but way over it's banks further down river. We ended up going back to the outfitter Saturday evening. Can't quite push the guys to 20 miles in a day yet.

Note to self: find slightly shorter trips for the future!

Larry's Online

Who knows where this may go?
Hopefully out in the woods somewhere...