So the question is, what is a suitable bribe?
2 minute read
May 5, 2012, 10:14 PM
So I’m currently working on restoring Journal entries from August 2011 for Falcon. The end of the main conversion is near, though there’s other work to be done before any launch happens. The plan from here to launch is to finish the main conversion, fix all of the flagged content issues (connections that I couldn’t make right away for whatever reason), do a whole bunch of scanning and restoring for a few Odds and Ends areas, do all new photos for the Fire Alarm Collection pages, and then work on a number of new photo sets.
Once I get to that last part, where I’m working on new material, I will begin doing beta testing on Falcon. That’s where I get other people to go in and start using the site like normal users would. The idea is to get other sets of eyes on things, in order to hopefully identify and correct any issues or errors that I may have missed. I fixed a lot of weirdness and old errors with the conversion, but as always, I am not above inadvertently introducing brand new flies into the ointment. And with nearly 1,500 Journal entries and a bunch of photo sets and other pages, mistakes are inevitable. I was showing Falcon on my cell phone to a coworker on Friday, and discovered a mistake in the theme, getting Falcon’s 404 error message instead of the page that I was expecting on a certain link (that issue is now fixed).
My current plan is to get a few folks to come over to my house with their laptops and take the site for a spin. It is my intention to fix any problems that get identified on the spot. Why my house rather than a coffee shop or something, you may ask? Because if we’re looking for bugs, I want to be at my real computer where the site is made just in case I need to fix problems on the theme or dig through an archive to find an image or something.
Continue reading…Categories: Friends, Schumin Web meta
Walking down Georgia Avenue and talking to the camera…
< 1 minute read
April 26, 2012, 7:46 PM
So this evening while I was walking home from the Metro, I decided to turn the camera on myself and do a Video Journal:
So there you go, I suppose. I am walking home along the northbound side of Georgia Avenue from Glenmont Metro to approximately Rippling Brook Drive.
Categories: Clothing, Personal health, Schumin Web meta, Video Journal
Of all the people to cut me off in traffic…
3 minute read
April 19, 2012, 9:41 PM
Of all the people to cut me off in traffic, who cut me off twice while driving south on 16th Street NW? None other than DC Council member Jim Graham of Ward 1. Take a look:
Jim Graham’s Volkswagen Bug convertible.
Categories: Driving, Some people
Campus candids…
2 minute read
April 19, 2012, 12:46 AM
Categories: Amusing, JMU, Photography
I got to witness some of the final flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery…
4 minute read
April 17, 2012, 10:19 PM
So this morning, not long after I got to work, I went up to the roof deck at work to watch the Space Shuttle Discovery fly over Washington DC before landing at Dulles International Airport. Discovery is expected to replace Enterprise at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center.
This was definitely something new for me. Being in the mid-Atlantic region, I am well north of where the Space Shuttle normally would fly. I had never seen one of the spaceworthy orbiters in person, though I had seen Enterprise last year (Enterprise was only used for testing purposes and never flew in space). And I had never seen the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in person before, nor had I ever seen an orbiter with the tailcone on it in person.
I was joined on the roof by three of my coworkers: Katy, Patton, and Genna. Additionally, a whole bunch of folks from other organizations came up to the roof deck to see Discovery pass by. I ended up taking a few photos with my cell phone. This was the scene on the roof:
Notice Patton and Katy in the center, standing on the table. Genna is behind Patton.
Leaving the era of big clothing behind…
4 minute read
April 14, 2012, 10:20 PM
So today was a day where I did something that felt really good, as I got rid of most of the clothes that I had that were now too large for me. This process started last week when I went through all of my clothes and sorted things out a bit. There were three main groups. The stuff that I was keeping stayed in the closet and the dresser, i.e. right where it was. The stuff that I was getting rid of and could donate to Goodwill went in laundry baskets. And then finally, the stuff that I was getting rid of and was also in such poor condition that I couldn’t donate it went on the floor.
And this is the result of that sorting:
That surprised me. I expected that I would be getting rid of one basket’s worth of clothes. When I started going through my clothes, I put out one laundry basket. I filled that up in no time at all. Good thing that I have four laundry baskets. I used three of them.
Categories: Clothing, Weight loss
Making chili!
3 minute read
April 8, 2012, 7:58 PM
I was cooking today, making a pot of vegetarian chili:
I had a blast, too. Anyone who can go on like this for just over 45 minutes had better be having a blast, I’d say. But what can I say? I love performing for the camera. I do, however, need to be mindful about how long I run the faucet. In reviewing the footage afterwards, noticed that at times I left the water running for a lot longer than I needed to (so don’t write to tell me this – I recognize that I was wasting water).
Categories: Food and drink, Friends, Homestar Runner, Kia Soul, Power Rangers, Video Journal
Does my left wrist need something else?
3 minute read
April 1, 2012, 11:38 PM
In the process of losing weight over the course of the last year, a lot of areas of my body have changed shape. My waist is a lot smaller. My thighs have gotten smaller. I have no behind anymore (and it is now uncomfortable to sit on hard surfaces). My face is noticeably slimmer now. And, surprisingly (but not too surprisingly), my wrists have gotten a lot smaller. Compare for a moment:
My left wrist on May 20, 2011. This is a crop of this image from the Kings Dominion trip.
Categories: Jewelry, Weight loss
And the Soul is now a Maryland resident.
4 minute read
March 29, 2012, 11:06 PM
At last – my new car is now all registered where it lives. No more temporary tags. No more temporary parking pass. No more Virginia inspection sticker. Take a look at this:
Categories: Kia Soul
Sixteenth anniversary!
< 1 minute read
March 22, 2012, 11:49 PM
So the Video Journal that I did for Schumin Web’s sixteenth anniversary was a bit more challenging than most that I’ve done. First of all, though, here’s the video:
In this video, I discuss the site’s anniversary, how things are changing on the site, and how I’ve changed in the last year as well with my weight loss and all. Check it out. I’m sure that you will find it quite interesting.
Categories: Amusing, Schumin Web meta, Video Journal
For all the trouble I went to…
4 minute read
March 19, 2012, 10:27 PM
So the story of the $150 shoes comes to an end. Kind of anticlimactic, too. Remember earlier this month when I went to Tysons and got those New Balance shoes? Those shoes are now back at the store in Tysons, and I got a refund. So after all of that buildup, and considering I did what my podiatrist told me to do, testing them in the store for ten minutes before buying, why did I never wear them, and ultimately return them?
Well, it’s twofold. First, those shoes cost $150. A hundred and fifty dollars. As I mentioned in the Journal entry linked above, that was more than I’ve ever paid for shoes by more than fifty bucks. That alone made me uncomfortable about wearing them. The fact that they were $150 shoes made me afraid to wear them. So there’s that.
Then secondly, and more importantly, I don’t think now is a good time to buy nice shoes. I have now lost almost 100 pounds since I began this journey a year ago (99 pounds lost as determined at a weigh-in this morning!). In that time, my feet have changed size. Shoes that fit me last year don’t fit so well anymore. I wore flip flops that I wore last summer to the pool recently, and they were too big on me. Likewise, Crocs that I bought during heavier days are now so loose on me to the point that they’re almost unusable. The lined Crocs that I have are also too big for me now, and I only bought those in December. So since I’m not at a stable size right now, it made me even less comfortable with having shoes that cost that much, since my fear was that I would size out of them before getting my money’s worth out of them. It’s happened to me several times already with jeans. First I sized down out of my original jeans, then the jeans I got in August, and now it’s starting to happen again with the jeans I’m currently wearing. Thankfully, though, next time I have to replace the jeans should put me into cheaper sizes – and out of the big and tall store.
A new geeky shirt and a 30-minute Metro ride inspire me to have some fun…
4 minute read
March 16, 2012, 10:02 PM
Today, I wore my new Power Rangers shirt out for the first time:
Photo: Mykia Mahan
This is similar to the Power Rangers shirt that I owned before, except that this new one is a smaller size, and has slightly different styling. I am quite proud to place the old Power Rangers shirt in with my “second tier” clothes. It’s too big for me, which is just as well, because I am getting smaller, after all. Then on different styling, this shirt, unlike the first one, falls victim to an error that many Power Rangers toys and such had: emblems on the center diamond.
Categories: Photography, Power Rangers, WMATA
My car search has at last come to an end…
5 minute read
March 14, 2012, 10:54 PM
So on Monday, my search for a new car came to an end, as I turned one set of wheels in for another. So let’s take one final look at what was my car for a little over six years:
In trading in the Sable, I will say this: it was a very comfortable car, and it certainly had an air of class about it, with the Mercury trim level that included leather seats, a chrome grille, a climate control system that worked via a thermostat (i.e. you set a temperature vs. setting the intensity of the fans), and a Gentex auto-dimming mirror (yes, the same Gentex that makes fire alarms). Realize that a Mercury Sable is basically a Ford Taurus with nicer trim.
Categories: Kia Soul, Mercury Sable, New car
Two trade-in bids for the Sable, and some roadgeekery in between!
8 minute read
March 10, 2012, 5:36 PM
First of all, you knew I was also a bit of a roadgeek. I admit – I am. I’m a nerd about transportation in so many different ways. But interestingly enough, I’m not that into cars. But in any case…
So I am coming ever closer to replacing the Sable with a Kia Soul. Today I went to two Kia dealers that my guy at the credit union had previously spoken with and had gotten bids from for a Soul. My goal was to get bids from these dealers for a trade-in on the Sable, and of course they would need to actually see and feel the Sable to do that.
The first place I went to was JBA Kia in Ellicott City. This was surprisingly closer than I expected. Baltimore seems so far off to me, and Ellicott City is a suburb of Baltimore. I felt like I was there in no time. Arriving there, I explained what was going on, how I had been working with my guy at the credit union, etc. So they knew what to do, but they didn’t exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling in the process. I had to explain multiple times that I was not interested in discussing new cars with them (since I would do that exclusively through my guy at the credit union), and that I was there only for the bid on the Sable. You could tell that they were none too happy that I wouldn’t give them a chance to swindle me. If it tells you about the vibe that I got from this dealership, I posted this about it to my Facebook:
Commuter, railfan, transit nerd, and photographer…
2 minute read
March 5, 2012, 11:34 PM
And this past week, it seemed to all come together. Twice in the last week, I was interviewed on things related to Metro.
The first was for a three-minute video, where a group of Corcoran students interviewed me as a Metro commuter. They also interviewed Chris Barnes, aka @FixWMATA, as a vocal Twitter user, and then Metro chief spokesperson Dan Stessel representing Metro. That was actually a lot of fun to do. About a week and a half ago, I was approached about the possibility of appearing in the short video on Metro. I agreed, and so then on Monday the 27th, the group producing the video met me at my apartment complex. There, they wired me for sound, and filmed me on my commute and we talked about commuting via Metro. I am a daily Metro and bus rider, and one of the things that I shared was that I do have my commute down to a science. I know exactly what time I need to be at a given point in my commute in order to make my connections and then get home at the time. I also shared how since so many people take Metro, if the Red Line is going to be messed up, then a lot of people in the office will be affected.
Then the video also shows my particular geekish side, as they got a good shot of me doing my little transit log book, writing down the number of CAF 5188.
Categories: WMATA