status:

Early weekend woo! Salmon beware, I'm on my way. 2009-07-23

kids fishing

I’m taking my niece to a kids fishing event this weekend. They cram a small pond full of trout and let the kids go crazy. If it’s anything like the derbies in Forks I went to growing up then it will be a cluster F of sharp/barbed & weighted objects.

I’ll be wearing long pants and sunglasses to keep myself safe.

google cellular

This is wicked cool, saw it on a TED talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJxA8eIWQUc about Phone+Internet (Phoneternet).

Text 46645 (googl) instead of 411 and only pay txt messaging fees. In addition the number and whatever else you get back is already on your phone so you can refer to it again later.
Example usage here: http://www.google.ca/mobile/sms/index.html

Another option is the free voice activated version, Goog-411: 1-800-466-4411 http://www.google.com/goog411/

I’ve also been using http://www.grandcentral.com. Although instead of using it to tie together multiple phones I got a local Forks WA number so my Mom can call it without having to use a calling card. Another neat feature is the emailed voicemails, although all I ever get is credit card offers and scams.

change into a truck

hah!

pandora fail

No matter how many times I downvote Jack Johnson it keeps coming back up.

browser hijack

Spyware is frustrating, then later on becomes hilarious.

A laptop came in from the field that had the internet connection hijacked. It would only go to some bogus anti-spyware site, and occasionally opens a bunch of popups.

I ran hijackthis without a problem, then I try to run spybot.

spybot

And when I hover over the “ok” this happens.

So that made me laugh. Real sneaky.

Finished up by running LSPFix.exe and removing a dll hook reported by Hijackthis. Finally a reboot and update of Nod killed everything and the internet worked again.

spam filtering services

Problem: Spam is a pain and people complain about it all the time. But I don’t want more apps to maintain.

Solution: Spam filtering services.

So I got hooked up with Verizon business, who handles all the cell/WAN cards at work already, they offer an anti spam/virus filtering solution for $2.70 per mailbox. We’ve only got ~35 boxes so it sounded like a decent deal. So I attend a 1 hour phone call/demo thing and configure optimum settings while on the phone with the rep. Contact our ISP (I forward mail from pop-boxes to exchange) get them to switch over our MX records and .. I’m done.

Less than a month later I find http://www.spamstopshere.com It’s gotten some really good reviews and is a hell of a lot cheaper than Verizon (almost 50%). http://www.spamstopshere.com/antispam_pricing.aspx

After our contract lapses I’ll be making the change. Will end up being ~$300-$400 dollar savings over the course of a year.

Windows XP SP3 Bluetooth problems

So an update following SP3 broke Bluetooth mouse/keyboards. I could re-add the Mouse/Keyboard but they would never really be connected. The solution (which took about 1 hour to find) was to edit the “Bluetooth Support service” and change the Logon information.

Start > Run > Services.msc
Logon tab, select “This Account” - must be local admin

Changing it to an admin account apparently lets the system install the HID drivers needed to use the devices. Whatever it works, I hate bluetooth.

steelhead failure

Went out for steelhead a few times over Thanksgiving break. I caught 2 tiny hatchery fish, steelhead jacks I guess, both about 20″ long missing an adipose. Calawah was low and really clear, I never do well when the river looks like that.

Also hooked what looked like a sockeye in the dickey although it would be really late for that so more likely a coho. It was dark and pretty beat up. Good trip, I really needed a vacation, bad fishing though.

Fantastic Contraption

Fantastic Contraption is a simple physics game where you try to get a wheel/ball thing into a goal.

Lots of levels and the forums are great. There are so many unique solutions to every level. I tend to go pretty simple but some of the things people come up with are mind boggling.

Here are a few solutions I’m proud of

Awash: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2440801
Handling: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2442932
Unpossible: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2654974

Narrows park fishing

Finally got around to attempting a little beach fishing after some advice from the gamefishin forums. I set out on Saturday a little later than I wanted but hit the beach around 2pm. I figured I’d give it a shot for a few hours hitting the slack low-tide. High tide would of been better but it was a lazy sleep-in weekend.

Walked up the beach about 1/2 a mile casting every which way and throwing everything I had. Buzzbombs, spoons, and coho spinners. I saw a few flyfisherman but didn’t see anything hooked/landed while I was there. There was no crowd at all. The view was pretty good too. (cell phone pic)

Looking north below Narrows Park

Welcome change from the Skok or Nisqually.