Work's been crazy-busy lately and I've started training for next year's Pumpkinman Triathlon, which may help explain the lack of tweets and blog posts. The banners went up in South Berwick and I decided to train for it for next year (holding to the "that which does not kill me" adage). It ostensibly takes twelve weeks to train for the sprint course, so I should be able to do the half-Iron by next September. I may try for a few others in-between.

My Garmin Edge 305 keeps powering off on the wretched, bumpy roads so it's back to the factory for service. Thankfully, the Garmin Forerunner 305 is a good backup and the (ugh) IFRAME below shows the first recorded route of the sprint course.

(To be fair to Garmin, the only way to do the embedded Google Maps widget is to have it be an IFRAME so the source is their domain - which is required for them to be able to use their API key...IFRAMEs are still *evil*, tho.)

Kickstarting the triathlon training has been fun and informative. We're starting up at the Seacoast YMCA to give Mary some water & exercise time as well as some time to do laps for me. I'll try to post progress, but "progress" is highly subjective (and I'm my biggest critic).

When not attempting to make my heart explode, I've been taking advantage of the cool temperatures and lugging the boyz on local hikes (starting hiking season a bit early). I've also been helping them get ready for soccer season (they are both starting soccer). Ian's innate athletic ability continues to amaze me and Jarrod's focus on the minutiae will make him a decent technical player. It's been great fun sneaking time on local soccer fields.

When not engaged in outdoor or repair activities (fixing pipes and our formerly broken microwave), I've been brushing up on Haskell, re-watching Invader Zim, honing my Vietnamese cooking skills and impatiently waiting for the Froyo update for my HTC Incredible (and playing a bit of StarCraft 2 and Torchlight).

Work beckons (again)...

While @jetblue may have lost a customer (Flash-based online check-in and leaving a single individual to handle the throng of bag checkers at Logan), the trip was speedy, sleepy and comfortable. Glad I worked from home and had a chance to hang with the fam a bit longer.

Great drive into the city from the airport and I took a nostalgic tour of it while no one else was on the road as well.

Really hoping I get to see all the people and places I have designs on seeing this week.

At this time Monday evening I shall be on a plane bound for Seattle and cherishing the sight of the greater Boston area quickly fading into a tiny speck on the horizon. While I will really miss the fam, I haven't seen the majority of my Seattle-mates in over a year (and Twitter is hardly a replacement) . The trip is for work, but I hope to get to a MHC mid-week service, hit Monsoon at least once, collapse from a dim sum lunch coma, hop on a ferry and catch up with some of the best people on the planet at BigE's. If I manage to take some time off on Friday (as I've planned for), I also hope to swing by as many places I can to help re-etch them in my pattern buffers.

I know the area has changed quite a bit in the last year, mostly due to the economy. Even my home campus - MHC Lake City - is no more. Still, I suspect I'll have more "Movie Script Ending" moments of nostalgia than not.

It may be due to all the moving around and significant life-issues in the past four years, but I keep musing over how I don't recall things being this dynamic when I was growing up. Perhaps one of the benefits of youth is the immunity to the effects of constant, significant change.

With Mary's tenuous back, the tent-camping has been kinda rough for her, so we've been looking to augment the setup with a cheap pop-up (the kids like not being near the adults at times). Mary found an awesome deal on craigslist in Mass. We scoped it out on Friday and picked it up today.

We are seriously considering painting it TARDIS blue and adding a police box light on the top.

You can view the rest of the pix in a the Flickr set.

While my previous post captured the essence of the switch to Android, the fact that it is missing the B&N Reader, Amazon Kindle app and support for Audible audio books is a slight inconvenience. However, this speaks more to the state of DRM than it does to items lacking in the Android platform.

It's hard to believe it is 2010 when I go to purchase an ebook (in this case, the Rama series) and find that I cannot get it anywhere except through nefarious sources (many torrents have many books in them, both e-book and audio book forms). It was even more frustrating when I was at the end of The Company series and had to switch to B&N from Amazon Kindle just to get further along. Apple's iPad is only going to make matters worse. I have no doubt that publishers will provide exclusive titles to Apple (or Amazon or B&N…) and that it will be still be impossible to get a non-DRM'd epub file for anything that isn't out of copyright.

Video, audio (book) and e-book publishers need to find a way to get open content into the hands of the consumer so we can do anything (legally) we want with them. It's getting very old being stuck in the 20th century due to their draconian practices.

Rather than a long, ranting post you can view some pix and screen captures of my new HTC Incredible over on Flickr.

Some reasons for the switch:

• iPhone OS 4.0. This new OS disenfranchises 1G iPhone users completely and proves Apple under-designed hardware for 3G users. If It truly needs a 3GS or a 4G to gain most of the functionality of their iPhone 4.0 OS (I have been running the betas on my 3G), then there is little point of continuing to buy into their product stream. It's only a matter of time before new apps no longer run on these older phones (but it will still be illegal for you to jailbreak them and continue to get use out of them).
  
  
  
  
• The Apple App Store. I'm really disliking the "gatekeeper" model that many companies are trying to have burned into the minds of the masses. I can load any Android app I want to on my Incredible and have the option to continue to use the Android Marketplace. The disdain for the App Store has been further seeded by the new iBookstore where - if I had an iPad - I could go to buy even more DRM'd books than I already own (a different rant post coming on that at some point as well).
  
  
  
  
• iTunes. Complete bloatware that is slow, buggy and in need of as much (or more) of an overhaul as the OS X Finder.
  
  
  
  
• AT&T. Wretched coverage here in upper New England and very poor customer service. Verizon has actually been much better (so far)

I've only had my Incredible for a few days, but it's very cool having control over my device again and having options. As you'll see in the Flickr set, I use both doubleTwist and the Missing Sync for Android from mark/space to manage my device on my Mac (I also use the built-in OS X Image Capture app). I didn't need to use these apps, but I did not want to have be pigeonholed into using iCal & Address Book sync to Google and manual copying of files to & from SD card & built-in phone storage. I could have used just Missing Sync, but I liked the fact that doubleTwist includes separate app & music stores.

Current "pros" include: speed (which I suspect would be experience if I used a 3GS or the upcoming 4G), enhanced functionality such as multi-tasking, location-triggered events & quick-access widgets (again, some of which I expect Apple to catch up on in the 4G/4.0 OS). I also gain much in the way of security since I am told up-front what the apps I'm loading want to be able to do and can make a conscious choice to be as restrictive or as "vulnerable" as  my risk appetite would have me be. I can sync wirelessly over my 802.11g network and finally take decent pictures and fairly decent video in a pinch. I haven't watched mobile video since having been forced to abandon my bus ride (alas, no mass transit commuting to work between Berwick & Portsmouth), so this has virtually no impact on me.

There are definitely "cons". A portion of my library is still DRM'd and it will take a burning/ripping effort to truly get out of that hole I put myself in since many of the albums & tracks have no iTunes Plus counterparts yet. I'm also out all mobile video I've purchased from Apple, but any DRM'd video will be proprietary and one can get by with ripping or transcoding from other sources. (Here's a handy Incredible preset for Handbrake that you can import if you remove the ".txt").

Android apps exist for everything I rely on, including Google Mail, Evernote, Dropbox, Twitter & Flickr. There is no loss of functionality and there is even more inter-operatibilty across apps (again, Apple will be catching up soon).

Something that is part of the freedom of the Android world - but is also a detriment - is the lack of UI standardization. The major factor in making the Incredible "incredible" is the HTC components that smooth out the quirks in the interface & apps. Not all apps take advantage of this and many just buck all implementation guidelines and community standards and present some of the worst interfaces I've ever seen, but I've also seen my share of horrible iPhone apps as well.

If you would like to know any of the details that the gadget blogs have left out of their standard device reviews or have specific questions on the migration from iPhone to Android, drop a note in the comments or find me on Twitter (@hrbrmstr). Tweeting is sparse these days as work and home eat up much of my energy, but I'll be glad to carve out some time to reply to Android questions.

I made a grilled lamb dish for dinner and promised to get the recipe on the blog. Since I'm on a support call (listening, since I'm no longer useful as I'm in management), here it is.

NOTE: I'm feeding six with leftovers planned for lunches, so that's what this calls for. Adjust accordingly.

Miz ɑ̃n plas:

• Two boneless, lamb loins, either cut from a whole leg or packaged
• 16 oz plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup of cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp (or more) of turmeric
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 tbsp (equivalent) chopped or mortared ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• salt
• fresh, ground pepper

Slice diagonal strips in the lamb and pound it a bit with a meat mallet to get it fairly evenly thin (1-1.5") thick.

Thoroughly mix everything but the lamb in a bowl. In a glass baking dish, spread part of the mixture on the bottom and place the lamb on it and then cover with the rest. The lamb should be thoroughly covered.

Seal well and leave in the fridge for 12-24 hours (it can go a bit longer if necessary).

Prepare a real charcoal grill and toss some hickory chips on it. Grill lamb for 1-1.5 hours, turning every 15 minutes.

Serve with chana dal (drop a note in the comments if you want me to post a quick easy recipe for chana dal) and a lovely merlot/shiraz.

Managed to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather & terrain today (60°F, moderate wind, nothing but sun & clean/dry roads with hardly a car, truck or motorcycle on them). Got a 1/4 century (25 miles) in (no time for a longer ride). Made the arduous work on the bike trainer in February worth every, boring minute.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

A very insightful article by Bryant Simon, director of American studies at Temple University in Philadelphia.

It's refreshing to see an academic see and report the truth. Here's an excerpt:

I finished writing my book just as Obama was taking office. I thought—hoped—that his historic election and the mass mobilization of voters behind it might mark a change from citizenship through consumption to citizenship through ongoing political engagement. I thought maybe Obama would revive our faith in politics and our trust in politicians. And I thought maybe he might be able to break the political model of innocence by association and consumptive citizenship. This model is based on the notion that ideas are bought and sold like goods, not to change things so much as to make us look better. When they stop doing that, we move on to another product.

But over the last few months, it seems we have learned just how little has changed.

The article really isn't a criticism of Obama. It is more a sad, succinct reflection of the state of our Union. I'd argue the "left" managed to seize upon the consumer concept far more quickly and adeptly than the "right" (and, I would argue that Bush was definitely the Dunkin' Donuts of coffeeland).

Perhaps (although doubtful) the populace will act less like consumers and more like genuinely concerned & responsible citizens next time around.

Dinner turned out pretty well, so I tend to want to preserve the recipe when that happens.

Miz ɑ̃n plas:

• pork, chicken or veal cutlets (4 thin per person if pork)
• asparagus, sliced into thin rounds
• red pepper, thinly diced
• butter
• white wine
• tarragon
• orange zest
• honey
• flour
• salt & pepper
• olive oil

Oven at 250°!

Have your butcher take a pork loin or thick center cut pork chops and slice them thinly (typically, 4 slices per standard, thick chop). Salt & pepper them, then dredge them in flour.

Add olive oil to a medium-hot pan and sauté the pork until just cooked on both sides (a scant 5 minutes in total).

When done preparing the pork, put them in the heated oven on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Remove most of the olive oil then return the pan to the heat (lowered to medium) and sauté the asparagus until almost cooked through (seasoning as necessary). Add tarragon and red pepper and do a quick toss or three, the turn up the heat and add the orange zest and white wine. Scrape the pan as everything reduces. Remove from heat and add butter and honey. Gently swirl the pan around to incorporate the butter and honey without over-mixing it.

Remove pork from oven, plate it and pour the sauce over it.

I served it with mashed potatoes and deep-fried butternut squash tossed with cinnamon sugar.

If I were a Senior Citizen or successful professional, I would be absolutely terrified of this Wordle of Obama's health care proposal. (Common, meaningless words such as: "president, house, senate, bill, health" have all been removed).

Why doesn't the Federal government just have all our paychecks sent directly to them so they can just give us an allowance?

Mary and I popped down to New York to see one of my west coast compadres and to catch a show with him and his wife (no names...protecting the innocent :-).

The Trip

We originally wanted to take Amtrak from Wells to NYC, but it was far too expensive and would have been a very long ride. We opted to drive to CT on Friday, stay overnight and head into NYC on the train on Saturday. We stayed at the Trumbull Marriott, which turned out to be a very nice hotel with very modern rooms, extremely friendly and capable staff and a well-prepared breakfast buffet. The train ride in was incident-free and the Washington Jefferson Hotel (right near the theatre district) had equally as capable staff and very decent accommodations. I highly recommend both establishments if you find yourself in need of respite near either locale.

The drive down on Friday was extremely tiring, but the jaunt back on Sunday was as pleasant as a 3-4hour drive up through New England can get.

The Show

We saw Wicked, which is prequel and adaptation of the story of the Wizard of Oz (subtitle is "The untold story of the witches of Oz". To briefly summarize it, the story starts at the point where the Wicked Witch of the West has just died with the Good Witch Glinda appearing and being asked to explain how the Wicked Witch got to be wicked. The writers take some liberty with the original Oz elements (as the two become intertwined pretty quickly), but did a decent job creating the backstory.

If you need to have an tag be dynamic (in this case, I wanted to reference my weather station graphs from Weather Underground and ensure I had "today's" graph without updating the HTML by hand), then this is the way to do it. I made it more verbose just for illustration, but you can reduce the code-size dramatically if that's important to you.

The "trick" is to just use an <img> tag with a unique id and then add some javascript right after it (or via one of your favorite libraries such as jQuery) that used the DOM-maniuplation javascript functionality to change the src attribute to the text of where you want it to come from. In this case, I have it dynamically updating the year, month and day in the URL for the Weather Underground images.

I took a bit of time to re-do the weather station configuration. I had obtained an EeePC 900A on the very cheap a little while ago and had been using Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it to host the wx200d daemon for my Oregon Scientific, piece of junk, wireless station. The 900A is a woefully underpowered system for a workstation, but the low-power consumption, built-in "console" and decent specs (for a lightweight server) makes it attractive for home tinkering.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix turned out not to be a good choice (took up far too much RAM and disk space) so I wiped it and went with Ubuntu Server (9.10). I had been using some custom code that orchestrated ploticus for graphs, but - as I was already sending data to sites like Weather Underground - I decided to just utilize their feeds and some keen Drupal integration for my own site.

The main weather site now uses the data graphs from the Weather Underground and the new weather block on RDN is a handy Drupal module that also connects to the Weather Underground for the readings (which makes the block [below] and the rapid-fire page).

If you had not already noticed, the weather cam (an old D-LINK DCS-900W) has snaps in thumbnail form on RDN and in larger form on the weather site. Weather Underground siphons the images off and makes handy time-lapse videos of the changes (they only approved it today, so no good stuff if you're seeing this on 2010-02-16).