GPS: A back seat driver with an Off button

For the last few days I have been testing out (read: playing around with) my Garmin Nuvi 265WT GPS that I recently purchased. The unit I purchased was a refurbished system that was available at well below the price listed on the Garmin site. My primary reason for purchasing this particular model was primarily due to the price since I was looking for something just to experiment with. I am more interested in getting the actual coordinates of where I have been on my road trips, and using those coordinates for my Google Maps projects, than having a device provide directions to those locations.

On my first time out with the Garmin Nuvi 265WT I decided to just go out blind without reading the manual. I packed the GPS along when I went on a work related trip, and used it on for the return trip home. This would not have been the smartest thing to do if I were relying solely on the GPS to get me home, but because I knew the way home this was not an issue. The first thing I immediately found annoying was the female voice that was selected by default and was constantly being drowned out by the road noise inside my truck. Even when the the noise was low, the voice was at a frequency where my tin ears could barely make it out. I decided that once I got home I would change the voice to something which I could hear (and which I have since done). Also the GPS was apparently configured for a destination point located near Tacoma, and the device kept trying to steer me back to Tacoma as I drove on to my home in Bellevue. Having this device constantly tell me to take a turn even when I didn't want to reminded me of having a really annoying back seat driver in the truck Fortunately for me this back seat driver has a volume control, and an Off button.

I read the manual prior to my second time out with the GPS, and this time I found the device (with the new voice) more useful. Having programmed the device with my home address I took off for a short trip to Snoqualmie Pass. Once I reached the pass I took an exit, and turned around to head home. Prior to getting back on the freeway I stopped and took a reading with the GPS and then set it to guide me back home. The device worked pretty well though at 70 MPH some points of reference seemed to come up a little too fast for it to alert me in time. The one major problem I encountered was when I decided not to take the exit the GPS had determined I should take and instead stayed on the freeway to an alternate exit. As it turns out the exit that the GPS originally selected for me runs parallel with the freeway for some distance, and because of the accuracy of the device it continued to provide me directions as if I had taken the exit even though I hadn't. It wasn't until I was passed the exit that the GPS determined I was still on the freeway and recalculated the new route.

As I said at the beginning of this post my primary reason for getting a GPS was to provide coordinates for locations I list on my Google Maps, and not for finding my way. I can see certain situations arising where I may have need of the GPS to provide a point of reference before I break out the maps, but for me at least I can never see a GPS replacing common sense, a good map, and the occasional getting out of the car and asking for directions which given the person you are asking can make road trips all the more interesting. I don't believe this line of thinking qualifies me as a Luddite because I do embrace technology; it's just I don't want technology smothering my sense of adventure and discovery by doing all my thinking for me.

One thing I need to do more research on is how can I readily transfer coordinates from the GPS to my computer. So far there doesn't appear to be a way to transfer the data via the USB cable that came with the GPS to my computer. Also I have yet to get an Flash card to store data with, and even if I do I am not sure I can sneakerware the data over to my computer. Maybe this can be a future project of mine?

Speaking of projects, I have decided that Python should be the language I should focus on learning at the moment. It appears to be relatively easy to learn, and I can use it to develop applications for many of my projects. I will also be starting up my studies in HTML and CSS again, and incorporate both in to my projects as well. Maybe I can use all three to build interfaces for my weather station, and robotics projects? I've been pricing equipment for the weather station, and also looking at how I can deploy it without brining down the wrath of my home-owners association. I don't expect to be moving as fast with the weather station project as I will with the robotics project. Speaking of the robotics project, it got a little sidetracked over the weekend due to my playing with the GPS, but I am hoping to have some more pictures of it in a week or two. If I can use my camera to take some video of it moving around, then I may finally have something to put on my YouTube channel.

Yes, I have a lot on my plate and I expect I won't get as much done as I want to, but I have to keep plugging at it and keep learning.

Cheers ~ Jim

Trying to stay on track

As I stated in a previous post, getting laid off sucks, especially if it happens twice in three months time.

To be honest I haven't been all the productive since getting laid off the day before Thanksgiving, and this being the holiday season hasn't helped my morale all that much. But this morning I woke up, and apparently was pissed off enough about the situation that I decided to give myself a good swift kick in the butt and get going again.

While it's not great progress, I have started reading Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML again. To be honest I should have finished this book several months ago. I am also cracking the pages of Head First C#, and setting up Visual Studio on a new system that someone gave me.

I am hoping that just burying myself in coding for a couple weeks will help me get over the funk and past the holidays. Playing with the NXT bot should help too.

I'll also be adding to the blog and updating some of the links I have, especially the Interesting employement links, and web development links.

That's it for now. Feel free to comment because it would be nice to know if somene actually reads this blog.

Back on the bus again.

I just found out today that I am being laid off due to a restructuring, so I am back to looking for work again.

What is particularly sad about this lay off is that I was working with a great group of people, and many of them are also being let go too.

I'm going to use the holiday break to decompress a little, and then get going with the job search again on Monday. I'll also be hitting the books harder too.

Wish me luck.

Fonts, colors, and weight with CSS.

I didn't get a lot of reading done over the last week, but I did dive back in to Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML and got going with Chapter 9. It is slow progress, but progress none the less. It's great learning how to set fonts, colors, and weight with CSS. It will be nice once I get done to finally apply this stuff to my sites. Yeah, I know, once I get done. This seems to be taking a long time, but given the dynamics of everything that has happened in the last few months, I think I am doing quite well.

As for getting started with the robotics, I decided to go through the NXT manual and familiarize myself with everything instead of just loading the software and trundling along getting lost. Hopefully by next weekend I'll have a little bot running around. I'll post some pictures if I get something running.

Getting ready to start my new job!

I am really excited about starting my new job tomorrow and I know it's going to be a great experience for me especially since it's line line with my goals.

I know I should have posted more than once last week, but I was busy finishing up some projects around the house plus trying to get in some study time. I didn't finish the Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML book like I wanted to, but I'll keep plugging at it. I am starting to learn about classes in HTML/CSS and I am putting down some ideas I have come with to retool my sites. I will post more about that later.

One of the house projects that I am glad to have finished was setting up my old Radio Shack Color Computer (CoCo) in it's own dedicated spot. I have photos up on the 8-Bit-Retro Blog. Swing by and take a look, and leave a comment if you want.

Well it's time for me to get some sleep. I promise to post more this week.

Getting back to work.

The last few days have been really exciting. Like the subject says, I am getting back to work and will start my new job in a week. I'm really stoked about finding a new job, especially one that falls inline with with my goals.

I won't go into too much detail right now, but I will eventually rework my Linkedin profile to reflect my new position. What really made getting this job exciting is that it wasn't the only offer I had within a 24 hour period.

Getting back to work means I will have to change my self study program a bit, but I will still focus on web development. I plan to finish Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML before I start the new job and then move on to C# and do a little refreshing of my network fundimentals.

I'll add more over the next few days.

Not bad after a week off from studies.

I was pretty much able to pick up where I left off a week ago, and start getting a good grip on CSS.

It's pretty amazing how having each page reference a style sheet can add so much flexibility and streamline the design process. I can definitely see how this will help in the retooling of all of my sites, plus any projects that come my way in the future.

After some correspondence with one of the experts in accessibility, I have decided to forgo the HTML vs. XHTML debate for now, and stay focused on learning XHTML. Down the road HTML 5.0 will make itself know, but I need to learn the basics and focusing on XHTML is the best course for me now.

Moving on to CSS!

Because lot's of stuff came up between this and the previous blog Chapter 7 of Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML took a lot longer for me to finish than I wanted to take, but it's done and I am diving in to Chapter 8.

Chapter 7 dealt with XHTML 1.0 which is very close to HTML 4.01 that was covered in the prevouse chapters. According to the book XHTML is supposed to next thing, but given that the book is now several years old and that HTML 5.0 is coming out, I wonder if this is still true.

Does anyone out there have an opinion regarding HTML vs. XHTML that they would like to share? If so, post a comment because I would like to others think.

Done with Chapter 6 and moving to XHTML

I finished Chapter 6 of Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML over the weekend, and I can definitely say I learned a lot about web standards and compliance.

It was interesting to use the W3C Markup Validation Service to check the code samples in the book, as well as my own sites (miba51, cloudymidnights, and urbanspelunkers) I wasn't surprised to find that all three of my sites had bugs, but I am still going to hold off correcting and updating my sites until I am done with book.

Since I am paying for hosting those sites, I might as well use them as part of my portfolio with cloudymidnights emphasizing accessibility, and urbandspelunkers to experiement with style.

I am now starting Chapter 7 and diving in to XHTML and hopefully in a couple more chapters I'll begin working with CSS. I wish I were making faster progress, but there are other priorities, and at least I am making progress on many fronts right now.

I scapped out 4 old PC hulks I had lying around, and I have two or three more to scrap out by the end of next weekend. My place is looking more organized than it has in years. Who knows, I may actually get some of my other projects off the ground. It's amazing what you can accomplish once you define and narrow your focus.

Coming up for (but just for a little bit)

The job search is plugging along and I am starting to make some good contacts. I am still staying positive and working toward my goals.

I've been networking with some great people in the accessibility field and I have found some great resources that will help me move forward. I am impressed at how helpful people are in sharing information about accessibility.

My studies have been going in spurts. As I have stated before this is due to the time I am spending on my job search, but like my job search I am making progress. I am currently on Chapter 6 of Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML and I hope to finish it by the weekend.

I am finding that HTML seems to just come naturally to me and even though I haven't started working with CSS I have been able to understand the few examples that have been listed in the exercises.

Even though it's a cloudy day today, I'm feeling pretty positive about where I am heading.

I am still here and still plugging away.

I have been very busy the last few days working on my job search, so much so that I have had to put the books down for a bit and just crank away at the job search.

I have made enough headway and have gotten organized enough to where my schedule will allow for more study time starting today (or at least I hope)

While my goals and purpose haven't changed, I do need to meet the requirements as required by the Employment Security Department, and so I have to balance my energies and priorities.

I have taken some time to gloss over Chapter Five of Head First book, and the perused the Crash Course book a bit, and once I clear a few things off my plate I am back to work at reading those two books.

The one thing that I am trying not to do is get down too hard on myself about the situation, and I am working hard at staying positive. I will say though I am putting in a lot of walks to help with the stress and keep me motivated.

That's it for now, and thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment. It would be nice to know that someone is reading this blog.

Cheers! ~ Jim

Made some progress, but not so much with studies

Before jumping into the Head First book, I decided to wind down my involvement with another project, so that I would have more time to study. This took a little longer than I would have liked, but it is done now, and I can move forward with my studies much faster.

I only got a little ways into Chapter 2 before my eyes got heavy and I started yawning every minute or so. So I am winding down for the night now.

I will say that there are times where my prior experience with both web sites, and blog makes me want to skip some of the material, but I am forcing myself to read it because it does reinforce my understanding of the material. Also actually entering the code in an editor such as Notepad Plus really helps in learning the syntax.

I have used a WYSIWYG editor such as Kompozer in the past, and have looked at the HTML source and made sense of most of it, but building by scratch definitely helps build a good foundation.

Well I am off to catch some Zs.

Took a break.

While I am happy with the progress I have made so far and the direction I am heading, I needed to take a day away from my studies to take a break as well as get some cleaning done.

Taking a break and kicking back (just a bit) along with clearing out the clutter around the house definitely helps clear out your head.

For a long time now I have known that I have way too many books on way too many subjects, so I have decided to get rid of those books I do not need, and possibly make a buck on the side while I am at it. Take a look at the Books For Sale link in my personal links section.

I don't expcet to get rich off of what I sell. I just want to clear out a lot of space, and possibly get some cash while I am at it. I am just getting started with the list, so take a peek now and then if you want some books real cheap.

Later today I plan to dive head first into the second chapter of the "Head First" book. I'll post an entry about how things went some time tonight.

Course change feels right.

I finished the first chapter of Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, and feel pretty good about the progress. A lot of what was covered I already had a handle on it, but the style of the book helped reinforce what I knew and going through the exercises definitely reinforced my knowledge.

My "Starbuzz Coffee" pages are looking good (You'll only understand if you have read the book)

I received a good tip from one of my Linkedin connections for a new GUI Admin Tool for MySQL. You can find it here: http://www.mysql.com/products/tools/administrator/ (thanks Marko)

I think the new course is the right one, and with determination and a little luck I will be moving forward with my career and job search.

Making progress and a slight course change.

The weekend Apache/MySQL/PHP crash course is turning into a week long or longer crash course, and actually that is a good thing.

Given the issues with the book being out of date, I have decided to slow down the pace with this course of study, but keep at it. I am not moving it to the back burner, but instead turning down the heat. I have a new book on order: Head First PHP & MySQL. This book is due in mid-September, and I should have the first book done by then and what I learned will help move forward with the new book. I should have read the reviews on Amazon before diving into the first book. If I had I would have started my studies with HTML a lot sooner.

Having said that, I now plan to refocus my efforts on learning HTML, XHTML, and CSS with the Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML from O'Reilly. This is where I should have started in the first place, but as they say - "you live and learn".

I thought that diving into PHP and MySQL with a crash course book would be give me some additional momentum towards my end goal, but unfortunately there were some issues. Fortunately the issues I encountered I was able to turn into good learning experiences.

So what to do with this blog?

This blog is just one of a number of blogs that I have, and like several others it has sat dormant for much too long.

I've decided that I will use this blog to chronicle my career goals and how I want to implement them. I know that posting about ones career goals and changes in a public blog may not be the smart thing to do, but I need to make a change and pursue what I believe to be the right choice for me, and I need a place to put my thoughts. By posting on a public blog I am hoping that along the way I may meet others who are following a similar career path and maybe we can help each other.

I have over 25 years experience in testing and repairing electronics, and while I still enjoy working with electronics, I am finding that just testing electronics does not satisfy my creative needs, I think I have found something that will satisfy those needs.

I want to start learning all that I can about web hosting, development, and management. I have briefly worked at a web hosting company and have quite a bit of experience in maintaining my own SOHO network. I have also done quite a bit of web content development for my blogs and sites using a WYSIWYG editor. Given my experience and desire I now believe it's time to move up a notch, and utilize my experience and resources to build a web server and run it internal to my own network as a tool to develop the skills I need to move forward.

I am laying out a study plan and plan to start on it shortly. If anyone who stumbles upon this blog is considering or has done something similar then feel free to comment with your suggestions.

That's it for now ~ Jim