Weird weather

We've been having some pretty unusual weather since October. October was cool, with barely any 70 degree days, and it snowed on October 12, which is pretty early. I only recall that it's snowed before my birthday (October 24) a couple of times.

The end of November was warm, in the 60s for Thanksgiving weekend, which worked out nicely since Zadie, Nana, and Aunt Debi were in town visiting. We usually go to North Carolina for Thanksgiving, but everyone wanted to come see the new house.

The first week of December was freezing, with lows in the teens and even single digits. Then the rest of December was pretty mild, pretty much above 30 degrees for the rest of the month. There were a couple of pretty good snowfalls.

January started out pretty warm, with temps above 30 for two weeks - then it was colder, but still pretty mild for January - highs around 30, lows 15-25.

The last few days of January were really cold, with highs around 20 and lows in the single digits. Then the really cold weather started. Our low temperature has been below zero for about 10 of the last 14 days. On several days, the high temperature was under 10 degrees.

We've had a couple of big snowfalls lately, including late Monday the 12th, all day and night Tuesday the 13th. School was cancelled on Tuesday, and many schools in the southeast suburbs closed on Wednesday as well.

So October was cool, November was cool then really warm at the end, December was freezing in the beginning, then warm the rest of the month, January was warm, then at the end of the month it turned bitterly cold and has been for 3 weeks.

- schneid

TiVo and Amazon Unbox

I've been downloading TV shows from iTunes onto my iPod and watching on my TV. That's pretty cool. But TiVo recently announced that they are partnering with Amazon Unbox to allow you to download video to your TiVo instead of your computer! That will allow me to skip a step and then I can use my TiVo remote to pause, fast-forward, etc. That is cool! Hopefully it will be available soon.

Once you have purchased a movie from Amazon Unbox, they will keep track of it in your account, and you will have it forever. So you can delete it from your TiVo and download it again.

iPod + TiVo

OK, so I love my iPod, but TiVo was my first love. So how can I combine the two?

Some things I would like to do are:

• watch videos from the iPod on my TV
  
• listen to music from the iPod on my home stereo
  
• watch stuff from TiVo on another TV
  
• save stuff from TiVo
  

Here's how to do it.

Watch videos from the iPod on my TV

This is so easy. All you need is the right cable. Visit this web page about Getting the Video out of your new iPod - for Cheap!. I bought this cable on eBay for $7 including shipping. It's called an "RCA-mini" or "A/V" cable. It works great. Connect it to the jacks on the front of your TV. You need to use the volume control on your iPod to get the proper sound out of your TV (this matters more for music), and then you can adjust the volume on your TV to make it louder.

Works great, but since the cable is only 6 feet, you need to get off your lazy butt to use the iPod controls to pause, etc.

Listen to music from the iPod on my home stereo

This is also so easy. Get the cable mentioned above (you could just get an audio to mini cable), connect from the iPod to your home stereo, and voila, your iPod is playing on your stereo. Use the iPod volume to turn it up, otherwise it gets really distorted, then use the stereo volume to make it louder. Again, you don't have a remote, but it works fine.

Watch stuff from TiVo on another TV

This is what I was really interested in. We have a TiVo in our master bedroom, and sometimes I record movies for the kids to watch, but would prefer to watch on the big TV in our family room. So, you can copy movies from the TiVo to your PC, and from the PC to the iPod.

But there's a catch. OK, maybe 2. You can copy from your TiVo to your PC with no problem, if you are using a broadband connection (I have wireless). However, you must have TiVoToGo software to convert from the PC format to iPod format, and it costs $25. The second catch is that it takes 3-4 hours to copy a 1 hour show from the TiVo to the PC over a wireless connection. That kills it for me. It's just too much of a hassle. Sure, you could do it at night, but my PC is in my bedroom, and I would hear the hard drive spinning for hours while I was asleep.

Yes, I know that you can just get another TiVo on the other TV, and then you can transfer stuff while you are actually watching it, but you must have paid TiVo service on the other box and I'm too cheap.

There is another solution that's pretty cool. Did you know that you can insert a video signal on your cable? That's how they put security camera feeds on your TV. You can insert your TiVo signal onto a channel on your cable, and then your TIVo will play on that channel in your whole house. See this article about How to extend your TIVO or other device throughout your house for more information. I haven't actually done this, but it sounds pretty cool.

Save stuff from TiVo

This is another thing I haven't tried, but should be easy. You can download TiVo Desktop for free, and copy stuff from your TiVo to your PC, and watch it there, or presumably send it back to the TiVo. You need to have a broadband connection. If you are wired, it might only take 1 hour to transfer a 2 hour movie, but if you have wireless, it's going to be slower, which is why I don't do it.

- schneid

I love my iPod

I thought that I was in love with my TIVO, but it was just infatuation. Now I have found true love in my new iPod. I've never owned an MP3 player, so it was about time I got with the 90s (ok, so it's 2007). After a torturous decision-making process, I chose the 30 GB video over the 8 GB Nano. I was concerned about breaking the hard drive in the video iPod, but I alleviated that concern by getting a 3-year warranty. You can't really wear the video iPod while working out, but since I rarely do, that's not a problem. I mostly use the iPod in my car (with an FM transmitter) and also like the ability to copy stuff from my TIVO to my PC, then to the iPod, which I can then play on any TV.

I've copied almost all of my CDs already, have over 900 songs on my iPod, and it's only 10% full.

After much research, I bought some accessories. I have Sennheiser OMX50 Street Line Flexible Stereo Clip-On Earphones. They clip onto your ear and are like a speaker in your ear, rather than a bud that you jam in there. I've never liked ear buds and the ones supplied by Apple always fall out. Anyway, they stay in pretty well and sound great. My wife has Sony MDRJ10 Ear Clip Headphones, which fit even better, but the sound is nowhere near as good as the Sennheiser.

I also bought a Kensington Black Digital FM Transmitter Charger for my car. This plays my iPod on the car radio. It's an FM transmitter, so there's occasionally a little static, but it works great, and it's better than buying a new car radio (that your iPod can plug directly into). Plus it charges the iPod. I bought this instead of a Griffin RoadTrip or Monster iCarPlay after some research.

It's amazing that you can carry your entire music collection and more (600-1000 CDs) on a device that fits into your hand.

I haven't gotten the cables to play the iPod on my home stereo or TV yet, but I'll add some notes when I do.

- schneid

Fun games

The last post was actually going to be this post but turned into a rant about education. The point was (going to be) that with our new schedule, Ben catches the bus at 8:30 and gets home at 4:00. I swear that we finished school at 2:00 when I was in elementary school. It's been a hard adjustment since Ben was still napping until school started. He is tired and usually a little cranky when he gets home. Anna still needs a nap since she's only 3 1/2, but if she naps, then she'll be up until 10:00 and Ben needs to go to bed at 8:00. Ben needs to get to bed this early because he wakes at 6:30 come hell or high water. The new plan was that we get the kids into bed at 8:00. For the first month or so, that happened one time. It was hard to get dinner ready by 6:00 and then finish by 7:00. That leaves no time for fun since if they need a bath and we start reading at 7:30. There was a lot of fussing and whining and gnashing of teeth while we made the adjustment. But at this point, the kids are almost always in bed by 8:00, which is nice, because then my wife and I can spend some time together.

OK, I'm getting to the point. What can we do for fun in 30 minutes? We have found some new games, and the kids love them. The current favorite is Sleeping Queens (by Gamewright). The kids are crazy about this game and we've played it every night since we got it (2 weeks ago?). Anna can handle this game even though she's only 3 1/2.

We also like Castle Keep, where you build a 3x3 castle. This game is just a little too hard for Anna, although she will play and we help her.

Ben likes Clue Jr. and Anna will tolerate it. Both kids like Cranium Hullabaloo which involved a lot of movement.

I've enjoyed playing games with the kids so much that I've ordered a mess of new games for Christmas:

• Rat-a-Tat Cat
  
• Hisss
  
• Thing-a-ma-Bots
  
• Wig Out
  
• Chomp!
  
• Slamwich
  
• There's a Moose in the House
  
• Rush Hour, Jr. Brain Teaser
  
• Enchanted Forest
  
• The a-MAZE-ing Labyrinth Game
  

The first seven should be easy enough for Anna. Rush Hour, Jr. Brain Teaser is a cool puzzle where you have to slide a car out of a traffic jam. Enchanted Forest and the a-MAZE-ing Labyrinth Game are board games that I think Ben will really like.

I'll report on all of these games after Christmas.

- schneid

The state of education

The biggest adjustment we've made lately hasn't been moving to our new house, but rather adjusting to our son's new schedule at school. Last year, kindergarten was only 2.5 hours every morning. He learned an amazing amount that year in a short amount of time, in no small part due to his terrific kindergarten teacher.

Let me pause for a moment to give kudos to elementary school teacher, particularly those that teach kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Some days I have trouble handling my own two kids, much less 22 kids (or, god forbid, in some schools, 32 kids). A teacher that teaches well at the elementary level is a special person. Watching my son with his kindergarten and first grade teacher reminds me of how much I love my own elementary school teachers. They really are like having a second mom.

Most of the teachers I know are doing a terrific job with the resources that they are given. My complaint is with the apparent lack of those resources.

When I was in elementary school (in the 1970s), schools didn't lack for funding. I assume that this is because the government gave enough money to the schools. But lately, it seems like every time the doorbell rings, it's a kid selling something for his school. Have we really resorted to having our children begging so that they can be properly educated? The schools have Market Day, which I'm sure is a huge windfall for the company that created it and not a huge profit for the school. Kids sell wrapping paper, candy, and other miscellanea.

In large part, I assume this is due to lack of government funding. And that, I believe, is due to a huge problem that we have with our political system. The senators and congressman making decisions about our education live in upscale towns with the best schools or send kids to private school. They make decisions about national health care, meanwhile they have their own terrific health care plan. They decide about social security when they receive pensions, honoraria for speeches, book deals, and who knows what else from their constituents. They send our children into war when few of their own children are in the military. I would really like to see our legislative branch populated with the common man who wants to contribute to the greater good, rather than a bunch of greedy rich lawyers who want to make a career of taking legal bribes from lobbyists. There should be reasonable salaries and term limits, and some restriction on donations and lobbying. This myth that is takes years just to learn the system is a crock. I learned most of the legislative system watching "I'm Just a Bill" on SchoolHouse Rock on Saturday morning when I was 7.

Another problem is the growing tutoring industry. Of course, if your child needs extra help, you have plenty of money, and you don't have time or the ability to provide it yourself, you will send them to a tutoring company. That's what will benefit your child and who can blame you. But your child can only get tutoring if you can afford it. I assume a larger percentage of lower income children need help, but they can't afford it.

The worst part is that the government is now paying for the tutoring! If children are underperforming according to the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act, the school can pay a private tutoring company to tutor them! That is outrageous! Why doesn't the government just give that money to the schools for more teachers and resources? Because then big business wouldn't be getting its cut. And that cut is estimated to be in the billions.

And don't get me started on No Child Left Behind. This is probably the worst education initiative in our lifetime. The teachers are now "teaching the test" to their students. They spend too much time preparing the students to perform well on the test, and too little time teaching them things like, oh I don't know, reading, writing, math, science, history, etc. Teachers are penalized or reprimanded if their students aren't up to par. The economist Steven Levitt proved that teachers in the Chicago Public School system were cheating for their students on the standardized tests. When the teachers inflate the test results of underperforming children, then those children won't get the help that they need. And let's not forget that No Child Left Behind is underfunded by anywhere from $6 to $27 billion.

You may argue that with donations and selling items for schools, the people who want to support the school get the opportunity, and those that don't want to can just pass. But education benefits everyone and therefore everyone should bear the burden. Who do you think will be running this country when you are old? Who do you think will take care of you when you are in a nursing home? Would you rather have educated or ignorant people making the decisions that affect your life? Life in an educated society is better for everyone in that society, not just the educated people.

The nearby town of Huntley is very fast growing. They grew from 6,000 in 2000, to 12,000 in 2003, to 18,000 in 2005. Almost 10,000 of those residents are retirees that live in Sun City. They banded together to fail a school referendum in early 2004 almost 10 to 1, partially due to low voter turnout among people with school-aged children. Later that same year, another referendum passed with a higher voter turnout. The Sun City residents complained that they couldn't afford the tax increase due to their fixed income. Hey, they chose to move into one of the fastest growing cities in Illinois! The lesson learned by the children of Huntley is "look out for #1". It will be amusing in 24 years when those kids have grown up, outnumber the retirees by 4 to 1, and decide "Hey, let's burn down Sun City and throw those old people in the street."

Another part of this problem is how Illinois funds their schools. The school gets its funding for the current school year based on how many children were enrolled at the start of the previous school year. Not the end, mind you, and not a projection. This means that in a town with a constantly growing population, the school is always underfunded.

It doesn't help that maximum impact fees are rarely charged to home developers. Impact fees are those paid by developers for each house built, as a stopgap for the year in which no property taxes will be paid on the new home. In Oswego, the population doubled from 2000 to 2005. In 2003, it was reported that no developer had ever paid the maximum impact fee. Deals were always made to entice the developers to build. Frankly, the developers don't need any enticement to build, since they're falling all over each other to get into growing towns like this. And the difference between the maximum and the average is probably $1000 to $2000, which a developer can certainly afford; but more than that, they can just pass that cost directly onto the buyer! Someone that will buy a house for $249,000 will certainly buy it for $251,000. Once again, big business gets a break while the people of the community get screwed.

So back to the topic at hand, lack of school funds. In addition to sending the students out begging, the school is constantly barraging us with requests for volunteers in the classrooms and library. While my wife does volunteer at the school, I feel that we are already paying for the school (in the form of property taxes) and shouldn't need to contribute more. But since we believe in the greater good, my wife does volunteer.

I hope that with the recent changes in Congress, we'll see some improvement in educational funding. But since big business donates billions of dollars to elect our politicians and spend billions more on lobbying, who is more likely to benefit from new legislation - big business or me and you?

- schneid

Online tournaments

I've really been enjoying the rebuy tournaments on UltimateBet. Most have been $1 or $3 buy-ins, because I don't really feel like rebuying 5 times for a $10 tournament; but for $1 or $3 I have no problem rebuying 5-10 times. My goal is to double up or better before the rebuy period is over. I try to get all-in with a decent hand and have often tripled or even quadrupled up on a single hand. When the rebuy period is over, there is a lot of play because the stacks are so deep.

The last stupid play I made was a few weeks ago, where I busted out 13 out of 313, with a good shot at winning several hundred dollars. I had been in several pots head up against a particular opponent, who would make really weak bets on the flop, I would jam, and he would fold. On my bustout hand, I called in the small blind with 43o, he checked, the flop was harmless and he made another tiny bet, so I pushed all-in, knowing he always folded in this spot, plus the pot was about the size of my stack since the antes and blinds were big. He insta-called with two pair. He set the trap very well, and I should've known better since he was in the big blind and could have anything. Instead, I could've jammed before the flop, or just folded that hand.

Since then I've been playing pretty tight and that's been working well. It's amazing how important it is to win the pot when the antes and blinds are big. The pot can easily be 1/2 your stack-size before the flop, so you want to win it, but it's hard to win because even if you push all-in, your opponents are getting good odds to call.

I re-read Erick Lindgren's book, and although I'm not great at small ball, I've been making more min-raises preflop. I really have to push myself to make a continuation bet on scary flops that I completely miss, but it's amazing how often your opponent will fold there. The min-raise is nice because most players will fold to any raise, you keep the pot small so that it's harder for them to call on the flop, and you lose less money when you're beat.

I've had about the usual number of bad beats, such as when I had AA vs AQ and the flop came QQx. But I've won some lucky hands too, so I would say my luck has been good. All of my recent bustouts have been bad luck, being forced all-in with a short stack, or needing to call because I'm getting such good odds. I can live with that...it's better than busting out doing something stupid. My best recent finish was 17 out of 500+.

- schneid

Latest poker results

I've been basically breaking even playing in $11 single table tournaments (STT) on PartyPoker lately. About a week ago, I discovered some small multis on PP - 20, 30, and 50 player tournaments. I played in a 50 player tournament that week, and was nearly the chip leader with about 7 players left when I got involved in a hand that I shouldn't have, and busted out, probably making about a $9 profit. I was the chip leader or near to it in almost all of these, which is typical for me. My early play in tournaments is pretty good, and I'm working on improving my later play.

This past Sunday, I played in some single tables and 2 50-player tourneys (all $11), and here were the results:

50-player tournament: busted 10th out of the money ($11 loss)
50-player tournament: won it! ($139 profit)
STT: 2nd ($19 profit)
STT: 3rd ($9 profit)
STT: 5th? ($11 loss)

I know it doesn't sound like much but it's a nice result. The 50-player tournament is the largest tournament that I've ever won. There were some tough spots in that tournament, like when I was moved to another table and there was a huge stack to my immediate left, and he was pushing everyone around. He went over the top of me preflop quite a few times, and I had to lay it down. Eventually I got a chunk of his chips when I had a decent hand and he was overly aggressive. I did get pretty lucky several times, but was very happy with my overall play.

When the blinds get high, the flop gets pretty damn big if someone calls your preflop raise. So if you've got AK or AQ or whatever, it's hard to fire again when you miss the flop, because you're committing yourself to the hand. At least 3 times, I had to force myself to bet there, and my opponent folded.

- schneid

Half baked ideas

Check out the web site
http://www.halfbakery.com

It is chock full of people's half-baked ideas. I don't know what's funnier, people's really stupid ideas or that they sometimes take them seriously. It's hilarious!

- schneid

There are still some good people

Usually I'm a cynic and believe there aren't many generous people left in the world. But occasionally, I'm surprised.

At work, I met Soren, a very animated and interesting guy from Denmark. For a couple hours, we talked about software development and the process that they use at our Denmark facility. He was only in the US for a few days, having just attended an Agile conference in Minnesota. One of the topics that came up was wikis, in which he has a great interest.

Later, I remembered that my good friend Kevin was going to Denmark for a Wiki conference. To put it mildly, let's say that Kevin is only extremely interested in wikis. I assumed that Soren would attend that conference, so I put them in touch with each other. It turned out that Soren would not attend the conference but would like to meet up with Kevin if he was traveling through Copenhagen.

Now I've heard that Soren is going to pick up Kevin from the airport in Copenhagen, take him home, then drop him off at the train station later in the day. We're not talking about a friend of a friend here, but a bare acquaintance of a friend! This is so generous, and I'm sure much of a relief to Kevin. I recall how confusing European mass transit is to us non-city dwellers. Maybe it shouldn't be so surprising, since Wikis are essentially about sharing and community, something I believe is sorely lacking in the US lately. Maybe it's karma too, since Kevin is exactly the kind of nice guy who would do something like this for someone else.

- schneid