Category: Fun stuff

Random fun things

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Spirographing

Today we picked up a Spirograph on sale at Target.

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I had one when I was a kid and spent many afternoons using it to make all kinds of neat patterns. Mine had ball point pens, but this one came with felt pens.

I played with it for a bit, and let me tell you, it can be just as frustrating as a big kid as it was when you were a little kid.

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I didn’t really like the felt pen because of the blobbing and bleed through that happens when you get stuck. Pen or pencil was much better.

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Still fun to play with, and I find the patterns you can create just as fascinating now as when I was a kid.

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Get ready for Southeast Linuxfest 2014

Southeast Linuxfest is coming up in a few months. This time around there’s a new website, new location and new date!

This year will be the sixth installment of SELF, and I’m pleased to have been part of it from the very first one. SELF2014 is happening June 20-22 this year, a couple of weeks later than previous SELFs have been. The Sheraton Charlotte Airport will be the location for SELF 2014, and rooms are already available for booking. The SELF2014 rate is $99/night and also includes internet access.

The call for talks is currently open. Deadline for submitting talk proposals is March 31.

Some particular areas we’re really looking for talks this year include desktop linux, gimp, inkscape, ruby, python, perl, java, security, drupal, wordpress, and bash. That being said, please don’t be discouraged from submitting a talk outside of those things listed. We will continue to look for, welcome, encourage, and accept talks pertaining to enterprise, BSD, and all things FOSS.

SELF 2014 is also looking for sponsors. If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, check out the sponsor prospectus.

For all the latest updates, stay tuned to the website, hang out with us on irc.freenode.net/#southeastlinuxfest and/or follow @selinuxfest on Twitter.

Should be another exciting Linuxfest! Can’t wait!

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Charleston Marathon 2014

Helping out with radio communication support during the Charleston Marathon was a lot of fun yesterday. The weather was on the chilly side with a breeze that didn’t help much. At least it was a sunny day which helped a bit.

I was assigned to the 23 mile mark which, for the marathon course, was also the 17.5ish mark too. It was a while before I saw the first marathon runner come by, about an hour and 40 minutes into the race. There were a few runners trickling by, and then a pretty steady flow of runners over the couple hours going one way, then coming back the other way towards the finish.

The runner in the Superman Underoos outfit gave me a chuckle as he ran by. There was another person wearing a Spiderman shirt, and a woman wearing a 1800s period dress complete with parasol. Probably the most impressive were the two firefighters walking the course dressed in full gear.

Fortunately there were no major incidents (not that I heard over the radio anyway). Had to call for some assistance when a runner broke down at my location but that’s about it. A few other runners broke down at other points in the course but nothing severe.

Just before 2:30PM, the net wrapped up operations and I secured my location. There were only a handful of stragglers walking the rest of the course by that point.

All in all, aside from the temperature, it was a lot of fun. I found out that my HT can reach the repeater on the Yorktown from 8 miles away and that even when broadcasting the time calling signal at max volume pretty much continuously for 4 hours, the battery held out for the entire time. Good things to know.

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Marathon, dog show, hamfest

Lots of things going on the next few weekends to keep me busy.

This Saturday (Jan 18) I’ll be helping out with radio communication support for the Charleston Marathon. If you happen to be near the 23 mile mark, stop by and say hi.

The next CHUUG meeting on Jan 23 is something a little different. Instead of the usual Barcamp style discussion, it’s going to be 5 minute lightning talks on the topic of your choice.

Please create and bring a 5 minute presentation on a technical or geek topic that you are passionate about. If you go after the sacred cows of the geek community, all the better.

Next weekend (Jan 25-26) is the Charleston Kennel Club dog show up at the Exhcange Park fairgrounds. Always a fun to see the variety of dog breeds there. I’ll be there both days in the afternoon with the Charleston Lab Retriever Club (the fun dogs) outside. Stop by if you want to experience what a dog show is like, and then head outside to see the Labs where the fun dogs/people hang out.

The weekend after that (Feb 1) is the Charleston Hamfest and “Computer” Show at the Armory Park Community Center just off East Montague. I’ll be there bright and early helping out in the tailgating area. It’s not a huge hamfest but I should be able to find a few interesting things there. There will be door prizes drawn throughout the day, including three cash prizes (if you’d like to buy a prize ticket, drop me a note). Don’t go if you’re expecting a lot of computer stuff though. It’s just not that kind of show. You’ll find a lot of older “computer junk box” stuff, but if that’s what you’re looking for, by all means stop in. An amateur radio licensing test will be conducted at the hamfest too.

The weekend after that is Orlando Hamcation which was a whole lot of fun last year, but we won’t be going this year. Too many other travel plans coming up to make it practical this year.

There’s also a lot of radio contesting coming up over the next few weekends.

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November CHUUG meeting

On the heels of Barcamp Charleston is the Charleston Uber User Group (CHUUG) meeting November 21 at Jack Russell Software. On the schedule are presentations on Akka by Brian Gilbert and Docker by Andre Dublin.

Feel free to stop in and join your fellow geeks!