field marshall hrádek

I've embarked on an unknown round fight with ol' Sadie. It's been sitting for what, five years now? The last time I started that car it ran for 10 minutes and then quit. I came out to it and tried to start it again and nothing. Just a disappointing rotation with no spark.

What was it? Fuel? Spark? Shifted distributor? Blown coil? The possibilities are endless but fortunately there is a fairly good (although probably) expensive path to fixing it.

Today we all went out to the car and I cleared it from all the junk my dad has piled around it. Opened the hood, attached the battery cables, and gave it some cranks. Seriously, after sitting for over 2 years the battery still held a good charge. That was at least some good news.

Then I went off to the car parts store and picked up a $20 multimeter. It was wonderful to get into all the different parts of the ignition and try and figure out what was running current. The battery was at around 10 volts.

Anyway, I figured the ignition coil was bad since it was returning about the same from the what was coming out of the battery. That made no sense. The fast that it looked 20 years old and has a 12 month, 12,000 mile warranty tells me it should have been replaced long ago anyway. So I replaced it. Still no spark. I am afraid it may even be bad fuel. Not sure.

The cap and rotor are basically brand new. I'll probably replace the wires next and work my way through the ignition system and then into the fuel system. I'm hoping to get it fixed so we can use it as a Sunday car since it will easily fit 5 of us. I suppose I'd rather have this initial challenge than another loan. Besides, if this gets fixed I would love to get it fixed up and partially restored.

All in good time.

My posting intervals have fallen dramatically but for lame reasons. I've been regularly visiting Facebook and getting my fair share of meaningless updates from random folks I barely know. The ones that do matter I keep up on but I think with the postings there and just generally busy.

Since taking the position of Lead Web Developer I feel like my days at work are solidly occupied. I can't measure my productivity in terms of lines of code but it is assuring the management sees my steps in helping my team succeed in its goals and assignments.

Helen and Henry are both doing well. Helen has started to emulate our sounds and I am pretty sure we have a solid yes and no sound. The yes sound is more of a yelp with an upswing and the no is either a growl or a downward sounding ugh.

Henry is really into going for walk, parks, and playing Lego Batman on the 360. We've been making an effort to get them outside to play but with it being the rainy season...

Henry is learning quickly and his drawing has shown increases in complexity. Both kids have been getting on a better schedule going to bed around 10 and waking around 9. It's really been a blessing.

I went to Byrnie Utz's Hats shop here in Seattle on 3rd and Union and oh my gosh I am so glad I went. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. I will definitely make it a habit to buy more hats there!

The hat I got can be seen at the John B. Stetson Hat Company's website. It's the "Temple" model. I am very happy they had a size that fit me. What an experience! I wanted to spend less than $100 but I ended up paying a little more.

I have been tire shopping for the car and have settled on the Yokohama YK520. I really wanted the Michelin Pilot or Goodyear F1 but the prices were almost $50 more a tire. The Continental DWS was a comparable tire but the warranty on the Yokos was better. Apparently my front tires were about to come apart.

We've been working really hard on Flicka and have made some excellent progress. It's been an excellent learning oppurtunity for me getting some really good experience with Eclipse, Android SDK, Java, and the sorts of things that come with that. We're still working on the details for our company but we have a name: MokaSocial, LLC.

This last weekend wasn't all that fun. Had a sore throat and generally feeling fatigued.

Been working a lot. Since Fife voted to join the Pierce County Library System we can now finally make use of a library! I was a bit shocked about the matter but it makes sense. A valley like Fife is perfect for farms and now (albeit stupidly) warehouses. Who'd want a library around here anyway?

Oh man do people whine. Ted Kennedy has been in office for 50 years (probably just riding out the nation's sympathy for the horrible murders of his brothers) and now that an independent State and free peoples elect a Republican to Congress and the hissing and stench of hate emit from the generally leftist circles of the Internet; Facebook and the various comments to the story on various news outlets.

We want change! No you don't. You want your agenda to enslave the country to your naive understanding of politics, history, and flawed human character. If people understood even a speck of that I think they'd be in for less government and more personal responsibility. Health care reform only needs to happen because government meddled in health care in the first place. See how the billions of dollars we've all paid into Social Security have been managed? Horribly. Do not expect otherwise from government.

Last night I had a jam session with Koa (drums) and his buddy Pat (guitar). It was flippin' awesome. I busted out my laptop, used my midi controller, and played some wicked organ, piano, and crazy techno bass lines and sounds to create almost two hours of intense Trash Rock Trance Lounge music. It was rage fun and we really had a good time. We played around with some chord progressions, styles, rhythms, and melodies. It took me a little while to set up but once I did it was on. The guys are just awesome. We practiced at Evolution in Bellevue. Since it isn't going to be often the $6.50 a person for 2 hours seems reasonable.

Last night I finally got my copy of Panzer Tactics for the DS. The reviews give it a low score but I kind of expect it in today's game market. It's a pure throwback to the old SSI Panzer General series. I played for a little bit last night. Very good indeed!

We've (Koa + me = MokaSocial, LLC) finally pushed out Flicka.mobi the official portal to Flicka, our Flickr application for the Android platform! It will bring all the free functionality of the Flickr website and add tons of integration into the mobile platform. We're hoping to be able to launch the actual application by the beginning of Q2 this year. We'll see.

The page kind of tells you about the release and stuff but here are all the links:

• Blog - http://flickamobi.tumblr.com/
• Flickr App Garden - http://www.flickr.com/services/apps/72157623025084241/
• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flicka/189775049761
• Twitter (of our Pivotal Tracker feed) - http://twitter.com/flickamobi
• Get Satisfaction - http://getsatisfaction.com/flicka

It's been one frantic push to get the code base stabilized and things to a place where we can finally start talking about it. There isn't much about the Google Android SDK on the web so that's probably the biggest challenge. Also, the Java library we're using for our interactions doesn't seem to have everything.

Anyway, it's been a wonderful dive into Java and I've been thoroughly enjoying it. We're hoping it's a successful mobile platform application; one in a series of many increasingly complex and sexy!

Special thanks to those that have been helping. The organization, insight, and comradeship has been awesome!

It was a fabulous break. We got some great time in with the kids, playing games, visiting family, cooking, and eating.

I picked up my guitar, restrung it, and have started playing it. My inspiration is obvious. Finding the time is the challenge.

Okay so I just have to share some awesomeness.

Dragon Age: Origins is one of the best role playing games I've played in a long time. The twists, pace; it all is so very interesting. It's kept me on the edge of my seat and I've actually sat there jaw dropped enjoying the emotions and story unfold.

Uncharted 2 is another fantastic cinematic story telling adventure that I love as much or even more than the original. It has a lot of the same creative story writing the previous title I mentioned above but it sets in the current time and world. I love the humor.

Finally and definitely not the least, DJ Hero is effing amazing. Take out the guitars and enter a turntable styled controller. I was a little skeptical at first but after playing a few rounds it's turned out to be an awesome journey into musical nostalgia and sexy rhythms.

With every one of these titles I am barely into them and hope there will be sequels. I felt like we're actually back to a time when there is some good story telling and exciting things to experience in game.

Hey everyone: Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Just finished up Eve dinner with Jerry and Jeanine. It was great. Everything tasted fantastic. Henry had apparently the "best Christmas ever" when he discovered a remote control daddy car (Ford Mustang). Thanks guys, you are cooler than his own parents!

Tomorrow will be morning at our place, my folks after, and Crystal's family after that until around nine. Oh dear. I can't wait until the weekend!

Bleh, MySpace bought the non debt parts of Imeem and basically broke it all. It was bad enough that Imeem reduced clip lengths to 30 seconds. Now they're out of the picture. So please, forgive the horrid AT&T and other stupid ads in their stay.

This song has been running through my head for months. This song, while we're talking about music, has been in my head for months:

What it means to me is that it's harder for me to share music with you all. For now I am relegated to Youtube which is fine but I'm not always interested in sharing the video part.

I've just got gripes with the whole system, fair use, and DRM. I will gladly buy music that's worthwhile. Money is not the issue. The problem is all the suckers that have bought into iTunes and other controlled media and what it all means. Control and profit.

Now I am not on any soap box here evangelizing one way or another. I am simply sharing how sick I feel when I think about all this and how pervasive the idea of remotely controlling everything. I feel like there is a full on assault on freedom and expected fair usage. I get pretty depressed about it all. Sometimes I feel like moving to the country and raising cattle for a living.

But alas running away from things isn't an answer for me either.

We're making some great progress on our side project. I can't wait to announce it.

Well I've accepted (and been entrusted with) the lead developer position at my employer. I am a bit anxious and hope I can fulfill the added responsibilities. It's been really fun and interesting working somewhere that is really using PHP and the corresponding systems to most of their potential.

The holidays have been very hectic. We're trying to get things for the kids, things for each other, and manage a schedule making sure we visit with the grand parents. I still have to tell my dad we're expected a third. He's the type of ass hole to make comments about the cost and whether or not I've heard of condoms.

But then again he may surprise me with a sudden burst of happiness and actually congratulate me.

Nanna came over and watched Henry and Helen Wednesday while Crystal and I enjoyed a night out. It's so crucial for a husband and wife to spend quality time away from the kids to keep the relationship in a state that encourages a loving home. Everyone wins!

It was actually our company holiday party which started on a party bus. It was a bit tacky but once we got to Acme Bowl in Tukwilla things got much more fun. We ate, drank (well I did but Crystal had a few virgin drinks), and bowled.

I actually loosened up enough to relax. Our CTO found the worst bowlers (well, I think it was just about all of us) and gave $100 bills to those that made a strike when he called it and was watching. Crystal and I both managed to do this (although I wasn't able to repeat it again the entire night). The temptation to drink wasn't all there. It was unlimited hard liquor, wine, and beer... but I simply have too vivid of a memory of a party recently where a coworker and I tried to finish off a pony keg by ourselves.

We ended the night with a quick game of Deal or No Deal and drove home. We thought about going to a movie but by the time we got home we were done. The kids were asleep and we both got a great night's rest.

Thank you nanna.