Year 7 geography students at Meadowhead School investigated the best place to put a new bench in the school grounds using Glofiish M700 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). They used WildData software to log information at each site, such as temperature, wind direction and aspect, as well as taking photos of the sites. This was collated and transferred into Excel for analysis in the classroom.

The majority of the students enjoyed the experience, with all of them keen to do a future project using the PDAs. Generally they found it better than using pen and paper, "because it's more active", although some were nervous about dropping the equipment. There were some technical difficulties, with the screen being hard to read in the sunlight, and a couple of PDAs froze, but the pupils managed to complete all the tasks well. Matt Podbury, teacher of Geography at Meadowhead, enjoyed the experience, adding that "the students were very responsive."

I've always needed a way to keep my pocket money under control, so that I don't over-spend, and after trying a few rather complicated "personal finance managers" out there, I decided that there wasn't anything for teens that was, fresh, funky, and easy to use.

So, I created my own application to do just that! MoneyMan is a really cool program - but don't take my word for it, give it a try!

Download it from the link at the bottom of this post.

But before you go ahead to download it, I'd like to quickly tell you what makes MoneyMan even cooler, is that you can export your finance overview to your iPod!! Just follow the instructions in the iPod Wizard in MoneyMan.

NB: You'll need .NET Framework 2.0 or higher to run this program. Just tap in a search at Google for "Download of .NET Framework 2.0" and you're off! By the way, .NET Framework is a free download from Microsoft.

Getting Started

Once MoneyMan is installed on your PC, run it by clicking the icon on your desktop. WAIT: Before you start recording your pocket money, click  "Properties" from the toolbar at the top. Fill in the required info, click "Done" and you're off!

DOWNLOAD MoneyMan v1.0 HERE

Enjoy! ;)

Although I wound up showing up about half an hour late, I ran a lively session of Maid RPG at Anime Expo on Saturday. I was too tired from life in general to plan out a scenario, so I just did a random event driven thing, though it was the first such game where the players didn't spam the 1D6 Favor = Random Event button. At one point some Japanese people passed through the tabletop gaming room, saw the little sign that said メイドRPG and commented in Japanese that it looked like something perverted, but rushed off before I could comment back in Japanese. It was satisfying in a way that the players would occasionally answer cell phone calls with "Dude! I'm playing Maid RPG! It's awesome! My character is a cyborg fox spirit!"

We have a placeholder up for the Maid RPG website, but we're hoping to have the full thing up and running in the next couple of weeks.

Also, we're looking for some kind of "web 2.0" thingy to use for an interactive Maid RPG community site. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Click the below photo to see the rest of the pictures and go to our GET INVOLVED page to find out more about Keep A Breast!

I'm apparently mad because I love the hand stitching.  I like making the stitches, spacing them evenly, making sure as little shows as possible, and there's just that idea of luxury.  I could have used the method for attaching the lining as per the pattern instructions, but the outside of the garment wouldn't look anywhere near as swish.  Nor the inside.

There are only two things left on this dress - the narrow hems for lining and outer layer, and the final pressing.  Then I have to find a nice garment bag and some bubble wrap so I can wrap it to send over to Gill with my father.

I've started dreaming about working on it.  Which is kind of cute.

In other news, yesterday Mary-Lou and I found her fabric at the Braybrook Spotlight.  It's a taffeta-like silk,  red shot with black.  I haven't seen it at the Moorabbin store, so we got it on the spot.  It's rustly, like taffeta, but without the ribs.  The texture is smooth with a sheen, it will suit the dress well.  Dupion was another option, but it's often a bit fuzzy, and the slubby texture wasn't quite right.

(my guy imports olive oil from this farm in italy. it's my inspiration for the day)

hi there! hope you had a great holiday. it's been a couple days and so much has happened. living like this is wild, really different from apartment living! not that i'm living there yet. i haven't done much lately since my guy is in town. it's finished inside as far as cleaning (actually it still needs another round i'm gonna give it), painting is done and cable is on, lastly, the floors have to be professionally cleaned. and how!

it's not that this is the home of my dreams but it's a block from the beach and directly next door to liz which is the only reason i took it. we're both surrounded on all other sides so we call it 'the compound.'

i guess it's a good time to rent because owners want to have people in their places, so you can get a make a good deal. i got in with just 1 month's rent and amortized the security over 4 months.

this is the third place i'm fixing up after renting. i have never owned property but it's fun to make deals with your landlord for your sweat equity. he's paying for the renovations, i'm overseeing!

i feel really lucky to be caretaker of these old and giant trees and plants

it's a wild jungle, i have lots to do

of course liz's came perfectly manicured

i saved these pics for liz but have no idea where i got them. i'll look at my history tomorrow. all she wants is a jacuzzi and a trampoline.

as for the insides, fresh paint changes everything, even the garage floor. i got some sage to burn in there tomorrow and hopefully that will chase the smelly demon out!

i was in the bookstore today when my friend carol called with the challenge to make this house totally green. get solar panels, solar water heating etc, paint, recycling, etc

so i started researching

www.amazon.com/Green-Chic-Saving-Earth-Style

www.gaiam.com

thank god they recycle here. from south beach to where i was there was no recycling! it was nutz!

more researching led me here

www.solarenergy.com

and

in florida for a free consultation www.solarenergysystems.com

they got me with this:

The pleasure of a remote home or cabin is even greater when you are sure of year after year of trouble-free electrical power, with practically no maintenance needed. Dependable ProCharger systems operate silently, burn no fuel, and create no waste. Modular design lets you expand a system easily if your electrical needs grow.

oh, plus brad pitt's into it too :)

www.msnbc.msn.com

are you using solar power at all? what about recycling? do you have it? isn't that a stupid question? miami beach does not recycle.

as for the spiders, one of my handy guys did end up relocating them from the entrances to the house, all but this one. i couldn't believe it but he actually sewed a salvage edge in the center of the web for reinforcement. how could i destroy that?

Listen now: iTunes | PodTurtle.com | Podcast Alley | RSS

Top Podcast Categories and Stats - Most common category is music.

Javascript Keyword or Tag List Delimiter Changer - Ever have a long list of tags or keywords for your story, and each social bookmarking site you submit to needs different delimiters for your tags or keywords? Here you go.

The music is by Me Talk Pretty. They’re at http://www.myspace.com/metalkpretty.

I also want to explore industrial art a little.

I have been seconded for three months, to assist in a The Joint Medical Visualisation Project [ JMVP ], based at the Medical Illustration Dept. in Forresterhill. Big learning curve, a deadline, and smart, enthusiastic folk - I'm not going to have a lot of spare time.

There has been no computer in the Montgomery household for 3 weeks. Slowly through the week it began to dawn upon me that, you know what; I was struggling to hold things together in my daily schedule.   John was beginning to miss appointments, or to arrive somewhere inadequately prepared. The Web Team, where I am normally based have kindly lent me their Intel MacBook Pro for the interrim.

When my computer build arrives I can look at preparing sequences for merging with performance then?

 ...er.. no - I have to look at OpenSource, SVN, CMake, OpenGL programming; 3D rendering; X-platform development; Anatomy; and working on a MacBook, which, of course, immediately showed up my modem - wouldn't speak to it. I rushed out and purchased a wireless router because the internet's where the manuals and software are; not to mention how I communicate and develop working practice with my new team members. More new equipment - that took me 3 or four hours to set up yesterday.  My son's pleased, he could now update his Wii through the wireless link.

So, it is conceivable that there may be a method to breaking down molecules into their individual components that uses less energy than other methods.  Electrolysis isn't "charging up" the particle with energy, it's just separating them from each other (but it happens to typically require more than the energy they release when they are combusted).  So, if there truly is a way to separate these particles without using as much energy, then the combustion reaction can still happen and energy can be conserved (if anything that I'm saying is possible, which I have no proof of yet.)  The only problem I see here is why can't I just use a condenser and reclaim all the water I've burned?  This would turn into a perpetual motion device which is a big no-no.  Maybe that answer will come to me, or maybe after all you can only supplement fuel with hydrogen, not replace is completely?  We'll find out in a week or two.

Tonight curiosity may get the best of me and I may grab a few nails and try the electrolysis in water just to see if it works at all. I caught some last minute wiring mistakes I had made. I'm not using exactly the same components as the design calls for so I've had to remap a bit of the wiring to make it work properly. I also need to figure out if I can get this on a nice compact circuit board so it doesn't take any room in the car. I also feel much better about using a butterfly valve to control hydrogen input as opposed to using the gas pedal to control hydrogen production. After watching a few more video I think this is the better route, and designing circuitry to control that shouldn't be too difficult and it would be nice to add my own touch to this thing.

I'm going to have to work hard now to not lose my thunder and keep the ball rolling all the way up until the end of summer. I've already come this far, it would be a waste to not finish what I started. Tonight I will finish the oscilloscope, tomorrow I will finish designing the wiring for the control module for Alpha, and probably start on the final wiring too (and hopefully finish). Tuesday the second component of the hydrogen module should be complete and maybe we can go out and buy the parts for the generator itself. This friday is do or die for project alpha, and finishing the oscilloscope means that I have succeeded in turning my room into a well-stocked ECE and Physics laboratory, or as one friend put it, an Aerospace laboratory (on a budget of about $200-$250). These tools are not bad at all, and for general applications they are more than enough to get the job done. With a little tweaking I'm sure I can make them even better. Oh I also need to do the wind tunnel too, but I don't have a need for that right now - so I'll put it together during some spare time.

Come on now, you should know that there is no way my yard looked like this.

It started off like this...

But before that, Melissa came over and helped me decorate two Patriotic Cup-Cakes.

ah-ha-ha-ha! They're cakes, made from cupcakes! Thanks to "Hello Cupcake!", though ours looked pretty much nothing like the one in the book except that they were made from cupcakes. But I did get to organize a stack of paper baking cups into 4 colors.

Then Friday morning I got to work. Here are some pre-pictures.

If you talk to Steve, don't let him tell you otherwise, I pulled up a box of weeds... put the weed barriers in place AND mulched. Now, he did do three or four "deliveries" to the area, pulled out two barberries (if your landscaper says that barberries are a good idea, I want you to punch them.) and planted our two new plants.

Screw you barberry!

That is the hole you USED to occupy and now you're behind the tree in the back of the house. You didn't even give me a chance to kill you, I guess you wanted it to hurt when Steve removed you from the garden. I never liked you anyways.

Now this I like...

That would be a cactus. Yes, like a real cactus, blooming in MY YARD!!!

And here's your required Bailey picture of the event. She hadn't seen a sprinkler in action, so when we put the new one on, she didn't know what to do.

After some well deserved showers, we went over to a friends house for a cook out, volleyball and a fire. B likes to go over because they have a black lab and they basically spend the day chasing the ball around the yard.
Here she is, waiting for SOMEONE, ANYONE to throw the ball.

Our friends also have two girls (3 years and 11 months) and I'll usually hang out with them... thus explaining the toys in the background.
BTW, Steve left me a message on the answering machine last night (I opted to hang out in the yard). "(the 3-year old) wants to know where you and Bailey are because she misses you."
So when Beeses is done playing, she lays down.

Yes, she is RIGHT NEXT to the grill. She also likes to lay next to the fire and a few fires ago, an ember landed on her. She was excited because people were touching her, to put out the smoldering ember.

Sunday morning, I put the swing together and Steve worked on some mulching. I then cleard out the last weed box and cleared the way for my flags, peonies and some cool purple plant. I planted Sweet Dreams and Heaven's Gate in the back box and once they really take, I'll photograph them.
We also compromised on the daisies.
I pulled out the lot in front and replaced them with my Arizona Blanket.
The BirchBell is planted near the tree.
Steve moved the back hosta to the hole where the Most Evil Barberry was.

I love the fact that our yard is now nice to look at... neighbors probably think that someone new moved in... I'm no longer embarrassed of the view of my weed boxes from the road.
And at the end of the day, my cactus had bloomed twice.

(posted from the glider swing.)

Just letting you know that we have finished our latest documentary DVD, An Taoiseach Brian Cowen - The Homecoming. This DVD documents the new Taoiseach's arrival at his home town of Clara. Watch as the Brian parades through the town to make his speech at the podium. You will also get to hear him sing a song about his father Ber Cowen.

We will be putting exerpts of the DVD on YouTube and MySpace in the near future. Keep an eye out for them.

Also the DVD is now available from eBay or by mailing us on info@sigmaproductions.ie

Thanks

Sigma Productions Team

Update on merging at TSL5B

This was said on 3rd of July 2008 between 11am SLT - 11:08am SLT at M Linden's visit and speech for TSL5B.

• [11:06] M Linden: I am ready when you are Blue
  [11:06] Blue Linden: Are you going to merge Second Life and Teen Second Life? What is going to happen to TSL in the future?
  [11:06] M Linden: There is alot of conversation about this topic and I know Philip has talked to this group about it
  [11:07] M Linden: There are alot of complex issues including technical issues to consider if we were to merge the two
  [11:07] M Linden: and there is alot of talk about this in the lab.
  [11:07] M Linden: We working on it
  [11:07] M Linden: And our goal is to better incorporate teens in a much broader way in the future
  [11:08] M Linden: We hear your interest and understand your passion and try to bring you things to make this a rich experience

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOTE NOW

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State of the Teen Grid previous news

http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=253858&highlight=merging+grids

http://www.holymeatballs.org/2007/11/moo_money_posted_an_excellent.html

http://www.massively.com/2007/11/13/teen-grid-a-sad-state-of-affairs/

http://digado.nl/the-linden-lab-dilemma-teen-grid.html

http://metaverse.acidzen.org/2008/open-letter-about-child-safety-to-la-times#comment-5386

http://www.vintfalken.com/child-protector-software-for-seconed-life/

Sorry this post is late but we're writing to inform you of a previous job.

We recently had the pleasure of working with former Meteor Ireland Female Artist of the Year, Luan Parle. We met Luan in the past at one of the Passion Lounge Sessions, and were contaced about making a video for her single Ghost.

For this video we chose one of the most haunted castles in Europe - Charleville castle in Tullamore, Co. Offaly.  This video sees Luan walk around the castle - but is she alone?

Ghoist is taken from Luan's album Free and entered the Irish charts at 10 which was a record for a download only single.

You can check the video out on our MySpace or YouTube.

Feel free to post a comment.

Thanks

Sigma Productions Team

=========================================================

7th of July 2008 - Building Tutorial > Starting time: 11am  slt- 12pm SLT <. 1h tutorial on how to build for newbies. Any new avatars to tsl may come along to learn the basics of building. We will be building things from a basic sofa to a basic coffie table. This will include texturing all the way to moving, shaping, changing the objects. Also there will be a mystery guest joining us.  

11th of July 2008 - Eye4you: Medieval Enchantment Tournament > 1pm SLT at Eye4you Alliance Island - Hear Ye, Hear Ye. Enchantment awaits: Events rotate between Sword, Jousting, Archery, Bardic Circle, History challenge and Magic. $Linden$ prizes. Training then contests.  Beginners are welcome. Free medieval weapons and clothing. Come to Eye4you and join the fun!

12th of July 2008 - Eye4you: The Second Annual TSL Craft Fair > 7am - 2pm SLT at Eye4you Alliance Island. Big things, little things, what have you made?, Bring your best stuff to the Craft Fair and show it off!

12th of July 2008 - Eye4you: Avatar Design Contest > 3pm SLT at Eye4you Alliance Island. Vote on your favorite teen created avatar for authors Meg Cabot and Jack Gantos who will be on Eye4You July 24 and August 5-with the winning avatar!

13th of July 2008 - Eye4you: Medieval Enchantment Tournament > 12pm SLT at Eye4you Alliance Island - Hear Ye, Hear Ye. Enchantment awaits: Events rotate between Sword, Jousting, Archery, Bardic Circle, History challenge and Magic. $Linden$ prizes. Training then contests.  Beginners are welcome. Free medieval weapons and clothing. Come to Eye4you and join the fun!

In the example above speech input is bound directly to the RichTextBox in Xaml. I wrote the Xaml above and then wrote the library to make it work. I've published this library on CodePlex. If you download the source you'll notice that there's also a sandbox application that has a voice-driven RichTextBox implemented entirely in Xaml.

Here are some implementation details you may notice:

Disabled by Default

Speech recognition is disabled by default. To enable it you can set SpeechManager.Enabled to true in code behind, or you can specify the AutoEnable property in Xaml and set it to True on a SpeechBinding or SpeechGesture.

Modifier Keys

Modifier keys can be specified on the SpeechBinding or SpeechGesture so that the command is only executed when the specified phrase is recognized and the specified modifier keys are held down.

Spoken Response

SpeechBinding and SpeechGesture have a SpokenResponse property of type String. If set, this string will be spoken by the speech synthesizer when the speech binding succeeds.

Borrowed Target

The target of speech recognition input is the target of the KeyboardDevice.

SpeechManager.SpeechRecognized Routed Event

To implement this library I had to implement a SpeechRecognized routed event. Although I have not fully tested it's behavior, this event should bubble up through the logical tree and can be handled accordingly.

A Hack in Our Midst

In the SpeechRecognizedThunk handler I had to use reflection to call the TranslateInput method on CommandManager, which is marked as internal.

Driven at the brink of madness by constant distraction and disorientation, I leave these virtual lands for most of the time. I just can't take it anymore. For granted, that is. Freedom, that is.

Shaved almost out of above-shoulder hair and general rascalness, I enter my new cucumber-salad-coloured adventures. Alone in the middle of people and forest. Ents, that is...not!

Heart full of blood, empty, full, empty etc. I replace my norms and habits. Life, that is.

Enthusiastic and excited, I'm leaving for army.

So long, that is.

then I woke up.

Not being one to drink, that hasn't been my only drinking dream recently. I found this one even more funny when I awoke this morning:

My boyfriend's "dream dad" (because it wasn't his real dad...I actually never even saw the guy, I just know he wasn't his real life dad) was building this tall building. I don't know what it was for, but I do know my boyfriend's family was living on the top floor and that there was a race between some lady I didn't know and some guy I did know to be the manager of this building.

That evening, I apparently got really drunk (didn't see this scene in the dream). I was watching t.v. when I saw a biography of some lady was on. I flipped the channel to it and she was knitting. (That's my kind of manager!) It seemed she was demonstrating her talent, but then she said it. She said she was weaving! I flipped out at some lady - she would definitely not do as a manager and I needed to let people know. I hurried to my computer and began writing an email about if she can't tell the difference between knitting and weaving, why would people want her as a manager. I sent it to everyone in my contact list, then went to bed.

The next morning, my boyfriend kept trying to get me to go back to bed. I kept telling him I was fine, but he insisted I was acting a little "slow" and people were noticing my next day drunkenness. Then he showed me the email. We were standing in a group of people as I thumbed through this three page document I wrote. I got the the last page, and in big bold letters staring back at me was the word

drunk!!!!!

And that my friends, was sent to everyone I know (in dreamland of course).

I fell in love with The Nester Swags  and thought I'd make one for my kitchen window.  The really cool part was that my hubby found these great utensil ornaments after Christmas at Safeway and they were perfect to tie onto my garland...  I am thinking I will add old recipe cards and cookie cutters to the garland as well...

This was a super simple project, first I ripped long strips of fabric, then cut them into about 8 inch strips. I also cut black ric rack, ribbon, and a couple other fibers, I had curtain clips left over from another project, and decided to use bias tape as the base to tie my fabric onto.

Here are a couple close ups...

My final project in Software Applications is to create a 3 part business plan. Part one: Create a Brochure for my business on Microsoft Word 2008 (I chose The Crazy Sock Store business I call: Miss Matched) Part 2: Create a business start up budget using Excel. Part 3: Create a Power Point presentation for the bank to approve my loan.  Is that all?, and I thought it was going to be hard...(faint)

In American Women I have to create an 8-10 page report on my Thesis (chosen by myself) complete with 3 Primary sources and 3 Secondary sources as well as quotes and other supporting evidence on something related to women in history and their contributions to current society. (Did I mention I am going through orientation at Centrytel while this magic is happening? (faints again)

To counteract the the immense brain burnout I have taken up my sewing, it relaxes the part of my brain that needs to think and drift, while having the added bonus of keeping my fidgety hands occupied. I am waiting for my box from Florida filled with my stash of cross-stitching hoopla and holler. I will be very happy when it arrives, since I am in pattern withdrawal, as any good stitcher will tell you they generally have more patterns than they can ever do in their entire lifetimes, but will always be on the look out for more, cause thats just how we roll! (grin)

Soon I will post some common cross-stitching terminology for your entertainment and education, and so you can understand what I am talking about when I refer to my work. I will also take a photo of my current work so you can watch it evolve! (It's alive! Alive!)

Thats me today..since I have only coffee helping me stay awake at this point I think I just may need to go lie down.

Bekki

It's a confusing line of argument, because feeling like we make our on choices is fundamental to who we are and how we find comfort in our existence. It says that, surely if life is already predetermined then the roll of the dice is enough to guide me? I've learned to be sceptical about all that. Even if fate is merely providing succour by appearing to grant me choice, then the appearance of choice is in itself an instrument helping unfold the future as it decends upon us.

This is because we are each of us the stone in a river of time. Our lives flow towards us, and over us, and we each experience the sensation of being alive, of recording the past as it becomes real.

So let's say the boffins are correct. It is fated at the genetic level how each moment will fall upon me. If that is the case, then none of my decisions are my own. And knowing the past is therefore all the more important. We are then a backward-looking species, one confined to a knowledge of what has gone, and awaiting what will become.

But I'm not convinced. There is truth in the idea that we are backward-looking. The know-ability of the past does define our actions, but the assumption that we can each make choices to influence our futures, or to alter the course of the flow of time, is fundamental to our self-awareness, and our conceptualisation of the present. Knowing the past is a way to better understand how the future is approaching, because it provides the clear indications where the high-water marks are, and the rise and fall of the events that can end, or alter, our existence.

Our mere existence in time is enough to alter the course of the flow, as I shall deomonstrate. Though we might not have influence over every small choice we are offered, and we might not have all the free will some philosophers might have assumed we do, we are each actors in the great unfolding of the universe's knowledge. Each of us a small, chaotic actor in a collossal drama.

All three of us are so computer-active, and my mother is so computer-free, it seemed like a good move.  Plus, Briton is going to need some type of machine when he moves.  This way, he can take either the laptop or the PC, and we won't be left hanging.  All that's left to test is whether Mama's house is in a wireless area.  (Ours isn't, much to my dismay.)

So, we leave in the morning.  Take Jess and Rupert to the kennel and head north.  Since we'll be driving at strangling-commute time, I'm going to try a different route to get us around Atlanta and to I-75.  It may work, it may not.

Finished my picot gauntlets:

The little "speed bump" about halfway down is the bracelet I always wear on my left wrist.  And, is it me, or does my thumb have a crazy-weird denty thing in it?

This is the vest I was telling you about:

See the diamonds she's putting together, to go front and back?  And she's just got that zipper pinned in there like it's nothing.  If she can visualize it, she can do it.  She has a remarkable talent, and an impressive fearlessness.

Did I mention that the laptop has a really nice big screen?  Guess what I'm packing for the trip. . .

Another photo from our cemetery invasion.  Lots of the gravesites are "fenced in," or marked off in some way.  I think hanging from these chains at one time were bells:

The cemetery is literally behind Sanford Stadium.  I hear some folks tailgate there before home games.  And they wouldn't let us snap a few photos?  Which seems more tasteless?

]]> http://gregpye.wordpress.com/?p=282 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:00:14 +0000 Greg http://gregpye.wordpress.com/?p=282 I was watching a bit of Wimbledon today.  Rain, as can be expected, came on, and amongst the crowd, out came the umbrellas.  What struck me was how anti-social and self-defeating they are in a crowd.  They spread further out than your neighbour, and so there is a good chance that the edge of someone's brolly will be under yours ... and you get dripped on.  Your head may stay dry, but your clothes will still get wet.  Poncho's that allow the legs to stay covered as well, and allow air to flow seem to so much more socially sensible.

Anyway, the reason for sitting with a beer was a moments break from the building works that we are doing.  We are remodelling several rooms, including one large one with a very high ceiling, with a plasterer coming in 3 weeks time, and various other tradesmen expected as well.  Even small jobs that need doing such as stripping out old units from a utility room take time.  And, new ones keep appearing, like wire brushing and hammeriting three large beams that were covered and will be covered again ... but had surface rust.

But, the real time pressure comes from the number of decisions that need to be made, and I am again struck how useful an ability it is to be able to make large numbers of decisions relatively quickly, and limit the downside in doing so.  To pick on an example, we have lighting,  - do we use large uplighters?  If so, do we go for sodium or incandescent?  How many?  Positioned where?  What unit design?  Do we need corridor lighting as well, and again position choices on ceiling mounted or under a handrail?  Do we put in a fibre-optic star-ceiling (very cool though lots of work ... but no way to do it afterwards at all).  And then there's down lighters.  In all cases we need to get the wiring in now, and cover our bases for future changes.  This story gets repeated numerous times for drain runs, boarding, radiators and piping runs, water pipes, showers, tile choices and more.  And many decisions have implications on other options, so you end up resolving for them multiple times over.  It's easy enough if you just do whatever is normally done, but we have always looked to push the envelope a bit.

It's rather wearing, and though we've done it successfully several times before, we are currently wondering why we do it ... as we always do about this stage.  What have we found works?

Don't underestimate how long the decision making process takes.  With research included we've found that this can become that largest time user in all the DIY work we've done.

Think the decision right through, particularly considering how it could fail.  Can it be maintained?  Will it limit options downstream?  Does it rely on something that is new/only available from one supplier?  Does it prevent you doing something else?

Avoid irreversible decisions where possible, and where they are required, focus time and energy on them - especially on thinking through the downsides.

Keep options open as long as you can, but commit when you need to, and don't use too much time on one decision and leave yourself too little for others.  It's the sum of the decisions that matter, not each individual one.

Establish whole solutions as tests, making each decision in theory, then think through how the whole sytstem works together - much easier and less risky than trying to think through each decison in isolation.

Document what decisions you've made and why, including all calculations.  Unless you have a dramatically better memory than me then you'll have no idea why you made a particular call when you come to look back at it during the works.  And you risk realising why you made a call only after it shows up for real (sadly we've done this a few times).

Highs:

• At work I spent the last two weeks developing a whole new user interface for a client's public website. On Thursday I find out that it was demo-ed to the client before I had a chance to perform any testing or other such QA. Despite that, the new site performed excellently and was well received. I'm a successful web-developer!
• Thursday night I packed up the bike trailer with lots of toys (unicycle, slackline, juggling gear) and my portable speaker -- riding with headphones is fairly unappealing and I think it's illegal, but riding with a sound system in the open air is great -- and hauled everything up to NE, arriving well before the start of this week's uni-polo game in order to do some juggling and slackling.
  • After not doing it for a good 8-9 months, slacklining was great and I was still pretty on top of my game; landing jumps, juggling on the line and sticking the highly gratuitous back-flip dismount.
  • I've also been a bit lax on my juggling practice lately but despite that, I was nailing continuous back-cross flashes (3 clubs)...something I had never done prior to this week.
  • Our number of regular attendees at polo has doubled in the past month and as the average skill level increases, so does the fun.
• Friday evening Anna and I rode down to Tigard -- a stretch covering what has to be the hilliest 13 miles in the greater Portland area -- to attend a 4th of July barbecue hosted by one of Anna's classmates. The food, company and entertainment were all tremendous (I won the game of croquet and am attributing it to the weekly polo games). The city's fireworks show was sad at best, but fireworks don't really do it for me anymore so expectations were low. The night came to a thrilling end as an alternate route home had us climbing for 4-5 miles and descending for the remaining 8 -- including a number of hills where gravity alone had us exceeding 40 mph speed limits.
• Saturday morning I woke up in need of a project. Five hours later I had converted our garage from a crowded and jumbled mess into a meticulously cleaned, organized and relatively vacant space. I didn't buy anything or throw anything away but we now have a bike-workbench, an excess of bike/unicycle parking and perhaps room for a car if we ever wanted to put one in there. I don't know why cleaning the garage is such a dreaded task for many. I enjoyed every minute and found it to be incredibly satisfying.
• Due to the rampant unicycle-enthusiasm sweeping the area, we had a huge turnout for a mountain ride up in Scappoose last night. Despite highly technical terrain and very little light, all of the first-timers did great and each had at least one moment where they rode some stretch of terrain that they never would have thought possible. The resulting massive grins were sure signs of new-found addiction.

Low:

Yesterday afternoon, seven neighbors witnessed a man pull an unsuccessful u-turn right outside our house, scuffing the corner of my car's bumper with his. One neighbor spoke with the driver who said he would park his car while the neighbor came over to inform me. The driver then just took off. Given the very minor damage, I wasn't too concerned, especially when I found out that the witnesses had all made sure to take down the license plate number. The Portland police quickly put a damper on things by informing me that the plates did not match the described vehicle. With complete disinterest, I was told that the plates were likely stolen (which apparently isn't a crime worth pursuing either) and that the police would not be doing anything. After some encouragement on my part, the officer did agree to add the plates to a watch-list. Apparently that isn't standard protocol. Perhaps I should take up auto-theft as a career.

So if you live in the area and you spot a mid-90's teal minivan with license plate 508-BMW, give me a call.

With last night having been the first time I've driven since we purchased a bike trailer one month ago, I really should get around to selling the car.