Iggy's Blog

Old Shoes

IGGY — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:24:52 +0000

Angels

IGGY — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 02:27:09 +0000

What happened to my blog?!

IGGY — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:57:40 +0000

It seems as though I have been terrible at updating this part of my website, and for good reason. I have been very busy finishing up my BS degree in business and trying to get my wine carrier off the ground. Since my last post I have switched to a Mac. I bought an iPad, even though I think that’s the worst name ever. Come on Apple! My racing hobby has died because of my allocated time. It’s been since replaced by my shooting hobby. I have found it a real challenge to do long range precision shooting.

I have a lot more updates, but I really should have been posting them as they happened. I will try to do a little more this year. No promises!

My First Robot

IGGY — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:18:38 +0000

I haven’t posted in a while because I have been very busy with school. Today I decided to video tape my first robot I built in my robotics class. It’s my first time doing anything in robotics and formally learning a computing language, in this case it’s InteractiveC. Naturally what I’m doing is extremely basic.

In the video the robot is avoiding obsticles by using two infrared sensors and in case it hits something, there are two “bumpers” with switches that make the robot backup. After the bumpers are hit 5 times the 2 LEDs flash and then the robot continues.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Again very basic stuff, but it’s a lot of fun.

Vaio TZ, Cool sleek and fat

IGGY — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:12:09 +0000

I recently just purchased the new ultra tiny Vaio TZ. It is Sony’s new flagship laptop weighing in at a mere 2.7lbs it’s ideal as a ultra portable. That’s the reason I chose to buy it. It’s great for school, great for work, and the battery life is better than anything else out there. The screen is LED illuminated and it’s about .25″ thick, but it still manages to fit a VGA camera on top which is great for Skype. The keyboard takes a bit of getting used to since it’s a bit small, but the keys are nice tactile and quiet. It’s doesn’t sound like a click-fest when I’m typing this at the library.

Now everything sounds good so far about the TZ, but even though it’s tiny there is a ton of fat. The computer out of the box is loaded with bloatware. It’s so bad that the first boot took close to 10min. Here’s a shot of the first boot:

See all those icon to the left? They are for useless offers for stuff I don’t need and seriously robbing me of computing power. Now I will be honest, this is actually the second first boot. When I first purchased the TZ about 2 weeks ago I cleaned it up right away and had it running at a decent speed. I gave Sony a call to see if they could send me a system restore disk with no 3rd party apps. They did but it still had all the third party apps that you see up top with the exception of the Spiderman Trailers which take up about 3gigs of space. So now I’m back to square 1 which is a bit frustrating.

Another thing is that I had to install Firefox to be able to type this. IE7 was so bloated that it looked like this and wouldn’t let me upload photos in Flickr:

So now I’m back to doing clean up

AWFS Roundup

IGGY — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:49:35 +0000

Well Vegas AWFS is over, and what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Just kidding, I couldn’t resist. The trip overall was very fun and I was able to see a lot of new stuff related to the woodworking industry. I have a cool video of a pool trick and pics of car powered by a funny car motor and 2 pulse jets. Yeah

Click here to view the embedded video.

So here is the wicked pool trick. The magician piled up all the balls like you can see in the video, and then shoots one ball out of the bottom (the yellow one) into the corner pocket with the cue ball. I’ve seen this trick twice and the first time he didn’t make it so it’s legit.

The first car at the show was a classic restored with a V10.

The next car was crazy. It was powered by a Top Fuel funny car motor AND two pulse jets. The guy who owned it said it was capable of 600mph which I think is total BS, but still cool as heck.

Here are some misc pics:

On the way back I was stuck in traffic for 2hrs. It was horrible…

It was all because of this…

Actually, it was a Semi that was turned on it’s side.

AWFS Day 1

IGGY — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:45:43 +0000

So far it has been great at the AWFS Fair in Las Vegas. It’s a huge wood working show that showcases new and old technology. There have been many things that haven’t changed since the last show but there have been some new additions. One that is especially interesting is the this super fast saw.
It has two saw blades that are opposite each other that spin, rotate, and move horizontally. This is machine is supper fast and scary at that.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ll try and stop by the booth tomorrow and find out more details.

Vacation Time

IGGY — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:43:42 +0000

I’ll be traveling to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! I needed a little break in my life so I’m out. I will see what kind of internet I can get down south, and if I get something decent I will put pics up on my Flickr account.

Car Update..

IGGY — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:38:47 +0000

So today I ~~got~~ needed to work on the car for Sunday’s track day at Thunder Hill. The most notable being the tar removal. That stuff had been bugging me for days and I finally found dry ice to get it off, well most of it. There were some patches where body sealer was used and the tar stuck to that and would not come off. Other than that it came off without a hitch.

The next item was the new radiator and Samco Hoses. I haven’t really had a chance to see how these are going to work, but I just hope that the cheap e-bay radiator is not going to fail. Lastly, I was able to install the new rotors I had sitting in the garage. I’m still waiting on the new brake pads that should have been here today to wrap it all up.

What the heck is that in your ear?!

IGGY — Thu, 31 May 2007 04:10:49 +0000

I’m warning you ahead of time that this is going to be a rant. That being said, I am getting fed up with all the individuals wearing bluetooth headsets everywhere, even in the most non-appropriate places. Now I know, who am I to judge? But, who eats at a restaurant with that thing stuck in their ear and that annoying blue light flashing off their lobe and glancing over the menu acting all important?

Okay, that may or may not bother some people, but what about the movies? Why must people insist on wearing their headsets at a movie theater?! I mean is it so important for it to be there since your going to take a call in the middle of the movie? No. I know I have a headset and I use it, no harm in that, but I almost feel criminal if it stays in my ear for too long and I’m not using it. End rant.