Ice Fishing Log: 2007-12-25

Five Island Lake, Emmetsburg Iowa. Mostly walleye with a few crappie. Jigs tipped w/ wax worms or minnows. Most bites were from 1'-5' off the bottom. We were in about 12' of water.

What I'm...

Reading: The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum. Sorry Erin, I might have abused the book a bit. In The Hot Zone, by Kevin Sites.
Playing: Resident Evil 4 (wii edition)
Adding to Mozilla Firefox: Forecastfox plugin

Deer Hunting Video

This is really intense footage...

What I'm Reading

Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. I just started reading this, but so far the book is hilarious. I'd read a later book of his called Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim which I'd highly recommend. You can hear his voice in material he did for This American Life on National Public Radio. For me, having heard his voice enhances the book. My next selection will come off of his recommended reading list.

Fishing

The Palomar Knot is used for all of my fishing knots. Here is an animated how-to link.

Most of my jig fishing is done with a simple lead jighead hook and Charlie Brewer's slider grub. The 1 1/2 inch crappie/panfish slider grub with a 1/16 ounce round jighead hook has been the most versatile for me. I use the 1 inch grub with ultralight tackle and the 3 inch grub for bass and walleye (use a 1/8 or 1/4 inch jighead).

Remote Backup Solutions

After burning my last collection of backup DVDs and spending time researching home NAS backup solutions, I've finally settled on an online backup service. Mozy provides a low-cost backup solution that is easy enough to use. You are limited to one client so you'll need shares setup to backup your files from one spot. The initial 2GB of data space can be used for free but I went ahead and started a monthly plan for unlimited storage. I'll provide more feedback if the initial upload of files ever completes...

What I'm Reading

Count Zero, by William Gibson
Mona Lisa Overdrive, by William Gibson

What I'm Reading

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, by Jon McGregor.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

I was reloading the software on my PowerBook laptop following the completion of a stand to keep the laptop lid from slamming shut (foreshadowing for an Apple gripe post). During such tedious computer rebuild tasks I tend to put on some background TV to pass the time. So I'm watching the tail end of Our Man In Havana starring Alec Guinness and I'll I can think about is "Hey, that's Obi-Wan Kenobi". I will be making time to re-watch the Star Wars OT this week.

Weather Junkie

I don't watch the weather channel. Sure, if I'm scrolling through the channels and there is an attractive weather girl I'll stop and listen to the forecast for the south pacific, but in general weather talk isn't very exciting. On the other hand, weather radar via the Internet is fascinating. I don't know why, perhaps I'll grow out of it. At this very moment I'm outside sitting on the deck watching a passing lightning storm and hitting the reload button in FireFox to try and validate the radar posting on www.accuweather.com.

What I'm Reading & Watching

I'm starting a new book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. I'm anticipating a good read since I've posted it here. I'm torn on whether to instantiate a personal rule of not modifying my previous posts for content/corrections. If I'm too lazy to hit "check spelling", why shouldn't that context of laziness be recorded? That said, I'll probably mod this post next time I read it. I recently watched Perfume: The Story of a Murder. I enjoyed the odd storytelling presentation. The visual work in many of the scenes is overwhelming. I recommend not reading any reviews prior to viewing.

What I'm Reading

Pthreads Programing, by Bradford Nichols, Dick Buttlar, & Jacqueline Proulx Farrell.
The IRAQ Study Group Report, James Baker & Lee Hamilton, co-chairs.

Embedded SQL Database

SQlite embedded SQL database engine. This small, self-contained engine is really easy to build and use. It is interesting to see the site advertise 98% test coverage as a measure of reliability/stability.

Active Books

The book club selection this month is Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen j. Dubner.

Linux on the embedded ARM

I've posted some notes on compiling CPPUNIT for use with Linux ARM here: CppUnit Wiki. More to follow as I crank through this unit test framework.

what i'm listening to: Determined (Mudvayne), Mr. Self Destruct (Nine Inch Nails)

what i'm reading: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

Notes of Relevance for Today

what i'm reading:
The Templar Legacy, by Steve Barry
Tom's Hardware

what i'm listening to:
The Wanderer (Johnny Cash & U2)
Animal I Have Become (Three Days Grace)

links:
Internet Archive
reCAPTCHA

Notes of Relevance for Today

what i'm reading:
Unit Test Frameworks, by Paul Hamill. Yes, that is a Norway rat.
BBC News
the back of my eyelids

what i'm listening to:
Paralyzer (Finger Eleven) ha, these lyrics are sweet
I'm not paralyzed
but I seem to be struck by you
I wanna make you move
because you're standing still
if your body matches what your eyes can do
you'd probably move right through me
on my way to you

Notes of Relevance for Today

what i'm reading:
http://lifehacker.com/
To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis

what i'm listening to: Destroyer (Static-X), Free (Powerman 5000)

Visions Of Cody

I've finally finished Visions of Cody, by Jack Kerouac! This book took me forever to read (several years). It is over now..., nope, no real reaction to speak of. I think the moment is lost when spanned across several years. The pieces I remember are intense, almost painful in the way the author describes events.

Active Books

Book club selection for this month is To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis.
Other Active Books:
The Singularity Is Near, by Ray Kurzweil
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Software Project Survival Guide: How to Be Sure Your First Important Project Isn't Your Last.

Favorite Links

Added a couple of links. Rocketboom is a daily video blog. Zefrank's site cracks me up. Salon.com was added because its a good read and it reminds me of a conversation I had some time back related to the addition of "salon" doors to an office cubicle environment. Unfortunately it wasn't until the end of the conversation that I was politely corrected on the proper use of saloon versus salon.

Single Board Computer

Started toying with the TS-7260 single board computer from http://www.embeddedarm.com/. It comes with a linux port for the 200Mhz ARM9 processor pre-installed into flash. I'm running the GNU gcc 3.3.4 arm cross-compile toolchain on a windows pc. Cygwin provides a local xserver environment in windows. The Eclipse IDE works well with the toolchain. To date I've spent more time messing with the tools than actually developing.

Book Club Selection

The book club selection this month is Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. This is an easy sci fi read. Here is the author's site for more details http://www.neilgaiman.com/.

Recent Movies

Watched "The Best of Youth", a subtitled Italian drama and "Murder Ball" a documentary on Rugby playing quadriplegics. Check out Netflix list under "Christina Littler". I'd recommend both of these flix. FYI Chrissy, I see no resemblance to "The Best of Youth" and your run of the mill soap operas.