Blog of Geis

Sprouting hops

2011-05-09T18:23:00.003-04:00

All four rhizomes have produced sprouts.

Ease of Use

2011-04-22T20:43:00.004-04:00

I'm trying to teach myself that doing things which will make my life easier are worth doing.

I finally put in a bit of organization to my CO2 tubing setup in the kegerator. This will make carbonating a lot less of a hassle.

Hop rhizomes in the ground

2011-04-10T10:46:00.004-04:00

For the second time, I will attempt to grow some hops.

I took a few improved steps this time around. First off, I didn't leave the rhizomes in my fridge unattended for 11 months. Second, I did some research beforehand and feel I've planted the rhizomes in the appropriate soil mixture. I have a compost pile which has turned out some great looking compost, so I was able to mix that in with some slow releasing fertilized soil.

Here's a picture of the 4 mounds (the Flickr picture is tagged for historical purposes with the hop types). I planted Fuggle, Willamette, Cascade and Golding.

PID Temperature Controlled Solid State Relay

2011-02-27T11:35:00.003-05:00

Ok, it's just a simple sous vide setup. Nothing really unique about this setup; lots of examples out on the web as to how to do this.

I purchased my PID controller from Sure Electronics (it took awhile to show up - almost 3 weeks - but it is very easy to setup and configure; the directions were comprehensible) and picked up the solid state relay from Amazon. An outlet and extension cord from Home Depot completed the necessary supplies and within about 20 minutes I had a test setup fully functioning.

I'm using an old crock pot as the water bath. I may try to find a hotplate that heats up a bit quicker at some point in the future.

[Edit]: I picked up this hot plate from Amazon. I've used it twice with no issues; it heats up quite quickly.

Now it's time to find some food items in the house to try out...

Micro Project: Online temperature sensor

2011-02-27T11:18:00.005-05:00

I've decided to start creating micro projects to help keep the Arduino learning and playing from coming to a stand still. The project from three weeks ago was to get a temperature sensor reading the temperature in my basement, and then making the value available online. Using the one wire DS18B20 temperature sensor, I was able to easily read the temperature. I purchased an Ethernet shield for the Arduino a while back and was finally able to make use of it for this project.

Here is the code that is running on the Arduino: https://github.com/jimgeisler/TemperatureServer

The picture shows two DS18B20's hooked up in parasitic mode, although the code is only ever reading and saving the last value in the chain of sensors.

I then built a PhoneGap app for my Android phone that does a REST call to the Arduino to pull the value. Here is a screenshot of the very simple interface:

Working around the FIOS router's limited NAT table

2010-09-18T17:24:00.004-04:00

I was having some issues getting consistent results from the ActionTec MI424-WR wireless router from Verizon. I brought up the situation with one of my buddies and he recommended simply turning it into a bridge and use whichever router I like (since I have the Cisco Linksys E1000).

Using the following relatively simple instructions I was able to get everything setup in less than 5 minutes or so. So far everything has been running extremely quickly, and consistently, from what I can gather. I'd recommend putting in the time to try it out.

DSL Reports: How to turn the ActionTec M1424WR into a network bridge

Tweeting Doorbell

2010-09-06T19:59:00.007-04:00

I started this project back in June, hoping to accomplish two main goals: learn a bit more about microprocessors/sensors/RF and keep the dog from barking when the door bell rang. Since training my dog wouldn't have allowed me to buy fun toys and play with different sensors and RF, I decided to rig up a door bell detection system.

The detection system uses a doorbell tester, which has a tiny light bulb that lights up whenever the doorbell is connected. This attaches right to the existing system. I then used a photocell as an input to my ATMEGA168 (with Arduino bootloader). I didn't want to mess around with transformers quite yet, so this optical/electric coupled circuitry did the trick.

Here is a shot of the photocell I used to detect when the doorbell tester lit up:

Here is a shot of the photocell rigged up inside the doorbell tester:

A little while ago I had put together an "Arduino" from scratch, essentially just exposing the inputs and tying in the necessary supply connections to the ATMEGA168 microprocessor. Here is a quick video of the project.

And a few shots of the arduino board:

Finally, here is the system attached to the doorbell wires. I have an enclosure that covers this system up. You can also see the RF transmitter that I use to send an RF signal and alert the receiver (which does all the tweeting / text messaging).

All that is left to talk about is the receiver system sitting by my Mac Mini. This system detects the RF transmission and pushes a message out through the USB serial interface. On the Mac Mini I have a python script running which waits for the message on the USB serial port and then sends a text message to my wife and I, as well as tweets to twitter.com/geis_door.

I welcome the Saab to the 21st century

2010-09-04T20:38:00.003-04:00

I've been putting up with a lack of auxiliary-in with my 2005 Saab 92x for 5 years too long. In an effort to remove another pain from my ass, I decided to move to a better solution than a battery-powered wireless FM modulator.

Although it still is not idea, I decided to put in a wired FM modulator that ties directly into the antenna input to the head unit of my Saabaru.

The installation was quite simple. I've removed the head unit before, so most of my time went into finding a power source for the modulator. Luckily, the cigarette lighter was easily accessible and the connector was removable, allowing me to work on connecting the modulator power cables to the cigarette hookup in a more spacious area.

A shot of the modulator already plugged into the stereo's antenna input.

Wiring up the power wasn't very difficult. I soldered the connection to guarantee a quality electrical connection.

The end result leaves a switch just to the side of the driver seat. This is also where the audio cable connects.

As a next step, I'd like to connect a BlueTooth audio module so that all wires can be hidden and the transition is seamless. It just depends on whether the cost is worth the minor increase in convenience in this case.

Wired FM Modulator: Scosche FM-MOD02 FM Modulator (Amazon)

County of Allegheny Sample Ballot

2008-11-01T17:46:00.004-04:00

In case you're looking for a sample ballot, this is a copy of the Official General Election Ballot for the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for November 4, 2008.

Presidential Electors:

Barack Obama / Joe Biden | Democratic
John McCain / Sarah Palin | Republican
Ralph Nadar / Matt Gonzalez | Independent
Bob Barr / Wayne A. Root | Libertarian

Attorney General:

John M. Morganelli | Democratic
Tom Corbett | Republican
Marakay J. Rogers | Libertarian

Representative in Congress:

Steve O'Donnell | Democratic
Tim Murphy | Republican

Senator in the General Assembly:

Jay Costa, Jr. | Democratic

Representative in the General Assembly:

Paul Costa | Democratic

Auditor General:

Jack Wagner | Democratic
Chet Beiler | Republican
Betsy Summers | Libertarian

State Treasurer:

Robert McCord | Democratic
Tom Ellis | Republican
Berlie Etzel | Libertarian

Statewide Referendum: Water and Sewer Improvements Bond Referendum

Landscaping can be fun!

2008-07-27T11:58:00.002-04:00

Newly Mulched and Bricked, originally uploaded by Geis.

A small section behind the swing set got a make-over this weekend. This is the area the Geislers use to visit the Resslers, the Resslers use to visit the Geislers, and the dogs use to transition from one dog heaven to the next. A section of mesh wire fencing divided our yard from the Resslers. It covered about 3/4 of the property line, running from the back of our yards towards the road. Right after moving in, we joined the Resslers in cutting a section of the fence out. Unfortunately, we had only removed the green wire fence, leaving the skeleton of the fence as a bit of a potential hazard to clothes-line any unsuspecting persons transitioning between the yards after dusk.

Saturday afternoon, we finally took down this section of fence. It was a pain in the ass. About half of the posts had cement footers, so the removal process included hacking at concrete with a mattock.

While Mike and I were working on the fence, Heather dug up the brick line displayed in the picture above. The grass and weeds had been so overgrown in this section, that we weren't aware of the existence of this brick border until sometime last week. It was exciting to find since all the hard work had pretty much been done, and Heather was left to dig them out and clean them off.

Here's another shot of the completed section, with the pond in the right of the frame:

Pond Progress

2008-07-27T11:40:00.001-04:00

Pond, originally uploaded by Geis.

Two new additions to the pond this weekend:

stones and fish.

Heather picked up 6 extra-small goldfish from Elmer's. They immediately found a home in the corner under the water lettuce and hyacinth.

If they become less skittish and I can catch them in open water, I'll be sure to take and post a few shots.

New Additions to the Pond

2008-07-22T21:22:00.001-04:00

New Additions to the Pond, originally uploaded by Geis.

The mosquitoes are gone! Time to get rid of some algae!

Heather and I went to Elmer's this evening and picked up 3 Water Lettuces (is that pluralization correct?) and 3 Water Hyacinth. We'll see how this works out, but hopefully they take off and create a floating, algae-consumption factory.

The real issue here is that I've discovered another intriguing ecosystem that I plan to implement in the spring. A Bog Garden that overflows into the pond.

This takes care of two major issues:

1. It creates an interesting biological filter for the pond.
2. It allows me to replace the overgrown ivy with potentially cool looking plants!

Rustoleum Epoxied Garage Floor

2008-07-22T20:19:00.002-04:00

Rustoleum Epoxied Garage Floor, originally uploaded by Geis.

As I rolled around on the cold cement of my garage floor in an attempt to remove the oil filter from the Triumph, I realized just how disgusting my garage floor truly was. It was at this moment that I created another desirable that would require pursuit before I would be content with the state of the house.

I decided to look into painting the garage floor with an epoxy. After pricing out what seemed to be a pretty reasonable cost for such a perk, I got hard to work. I removed all the random junk sitting around, tore down some shelves from the previous owner, and got to work degreasing and scrubbing the floor. I also tended to some deteriorating cement spots with a vinyl cement filler. This seems to have been worthwhile.

The actual execution of the cement etcher, rinsing, sweeping, drying, and application took about 6 hours or so (although the drying was probably a good hour and 45 minutes in the middle there). While I was applying the epoxy paint, Heather followed and applied the sprinkles (or "jimmies" as she calls them). Although this does not add to the function, it certainly helps cover up imperfections and, in general, just makes the floor look freakin' sweet.

Finally, here is the before picture:

And here is the final product:

Wings and Elliot Ness

2008-07-08T07:35:00.001-04:00

Leftovers, originally uploaded by Geis.

Why has it been so long since I've eaten home-made wings rolled in buttermilk ranch with a smooth Great Lakes Elliot Ness draft in my slimy hand?

A little while ago, we grabbed a good few pounds of chicken wings from Wholey's, grilled up a couple, and then froze the rest. Yesterday during lunch, I plopped about 8 full wings into a brine mixture and let them thaw and bring (I guess) for a good 7 hours or so.

We grilled them up on the charcoal grill, and then fired them into a sauce (Red Hot, butter, garlic salt, pepper, Hickory Honey BBQ sauce, etc.) that I had simmered on the stove for about 10-15 minutes.

Let's just say, it hit the spot. We also cooked up some white corn, which was delicious, to complete the very simple, yet very fulfilling meal.

Now I look forward to lunchtime... with leftovers!

Mosquito Breeding

2008-07-06T12:55:00.001-04:00

Frog fountain, originally uploaded by Geis.

In the early winter this past year, a large locust tree fell in my backyard during a wicked lightning storm. After cutting it up (with the help of my neighbor, Mike) I formed a small wood pile by the back of my house, next to the sliding glass door. Over time, this wood pile has become swamped with the recent downpours, and has not had much time to dry out. This seemed to create a sweet breeding ground for mosquitoes, as every time we walk out the glass door, we are bombarded by the little suckers (pun intended).
After spending some time on Saturday afternoon moving this wood pile away from the house (I figured it was also bad to encourage carpenter ants to move in so close to my house structure), I decided to see what I could do about the mosquitoes I've been unintentionally breeding in a small pond, also in my backyard.

Luckily, I had just the weapon... I was so lucky as to receive a very gracious gift of a frog fountain from my mother for my birthday this past April. I had postponed it's addition to the pond due to electrical issues, but decided to hook it up with an extension cord for a temporary setup. So far, things look good for Jack, Heather, and I; not as good for the West Nile campaign. The surface of the pond is now in constant churn, which I hope will destroy any future reproduction.

Canonsburg Lake

2008-07-06T12:41:00.001-04:00

Canonsburg Lake, originally uploaded by Geis.

Well, you can't win them all. Apparently, the last week or two of solid downpours has left the Canonsburg Lake resembling more of a mud puddle than anything else.

Canonsburg Lake

Luckily, Gadus knew what to do when nothing can see your bait: fish for catfish. After a good few minutes with a nightcrawler sitting on the bottom of the lake, Gadus pulled in a stubby little catfish. Following suit, I managed to pull one in that rivaled Gadus's catfish in size using the same tactics.

Definite potential for great bass and trout fishing. I hope to make another trip in the near future.

Overall Opinion: needs another try
Things to do next time: bring glow in the dark bait?

Virgin Run Lake

2008-07-06T12:09:00.001-04:00

Geis and Bass, originally uploaded by Geis.

Gadus and I have decided to make a solid effort this summer discovering and recording potential bass and trout locations throughout Western Pennsylvania. Our first lake this summer was Virgin Run Lake, which is just a few yards off 51 in Perryopolis.

Virgin Run Lake

As noted on the map, Gadus pulled in two large mouth and I was able to land one as well. All three were caught with some fatheads we picked up earlier that day.

Final note: we had no success at all with the nightcrawlers or redworms we brought along; and other than some shallow water sightings, there was hardly any sign of any kind of pan fish.

Overall Opinion: great lake!
Things to do for next time: bring a boat!

Small Marine Tank Setup Complete

2008-02-29T08:45:00.001-05:00

New Ghetto, Yet Effective Marine Setup, originally uploaded by Geis.

I recently became inspired to setup a 75g+ marine tank in my living room. The plans entailed building a stand and hood that could hold the 75g display tank, as well as store a sump tank underneath. With the new setup, I became aware that I needed a protein skimmer, two new powerheads, a bio/mechanical filter, about 100+ lbs of live rock, and a few other odds and ends.

After totaling the costs, I realized I was quickly going over my intended budget and decided to take a step back and think about how I could geek out about a marine tank without spending so much cash.

During the investigation and research process of the larger setup, I began conversing with Denovich about a number of things I could be building myself that would improve the tank and save me some money. Since I currently have a 30g marine tank (whose inhabitants are now certainly tired of my constant promises of an upgrade), I decided to try my hand at a wet/dry filter and a sump to replace the underpowered, rather ineffective, hanging power filter.

With a few Google searches and much more Mark-D-brain-picking, I came up with a pretty simple and inexpensive design: a 5g rubbermaid container works as the sump, which houses my home-made bio/mechanical bucket filter and a 200gph water pump to push the water back into the tank. On the top of the tank I used a siphoning overflow to drain into an external overflow, which then gravity drains into the sump (or more specifically, into the bio/mech filter.

After a few iterations, I was able to get the siphoning overflow to pull out enough water to match the sump pump's rate of flow back into the tank.

In retrospect, the attachment of the internal overflow box could have been implemented much easier by simply gluing a strong magnet to the back, and then placing another strong magnet on the outside of the tank (similar to the magnets used to remove algae from the tank walls). For now, it's attached by a clamp to the back wall :)

So, looking to the future, now that I have a good proof-of-concept filter in place, I've decided to build a stand and hood for a 50g tank which I have attained free of charge and place this setup in the living room. I should be able to directly transfer the sump and filter to the new setup.

I plan to begin work on the stand and hood this upcoming weekend.

Jack tries out his seatbelt

2007-06-28T08:37:00.001-04:00

Jack tries out his seatbelt, originally uploaded by Geis.

The weekend of June 16th, I took a trip with some highschool friends down to Baltimore and left Jack at my parent's house in Reading.

For the trip back to Pittsburgh, my mom gave me Lily and Buster's unused seatbelt holster for pups. Although Jack managed to stay seated for this shot, he soon collapsed in the seat and slept most of the way home, exhausted from a weekend of rumbling and instigating with two Jack Russels.

Is this the end?

2007-02-19T18:43:00.001-05:00

Cingular 8125, originally uploaded by Geis.

My Cingular 8125 consumes SIM cards... For real. (Fo' rhea)

The day before my wedding, my cell phone stopped communicating with Cingular's towers, so I paid a visit to the closest Cingular store. The salesperson convinced me that it was simply a faulty SIM card, issued me a new one, cleared all my data off the device (thanks), and guaranteed me it wouldn't happen again.

Sometime this summer, the phone bricked once again, so I trucked on down to the same store, and this time had the same SIM card re-initialized with the necessary information to start communicating with Cingular again.

Finally, this last Friday, this gorgeous POS decided to SIM barf, denying the ever-so-necessary call to my wife inquiring the evening's dining gameplan.

So to shorten this lengthening story, I called Cingular this weekend and after a good hour and a half total call time (on my wife's cellphone), I was able to ensure them that the phone had issues and I needed a new one. I was pleased to find out that my warranty expires on February 23rd; this upcoming Friday.

So that's the situation. I'm waiting for a new device to arrive in the mail (and thanks to all the Presidents for postponing its arrival one more day) and hope to be available once again in a few days.

Until then, long live SKYPE.

Peppermint Shrimp

2007-02-10T23:58:00.001-05:00

Peppermint Shrimp, originally uploaded by Geis.

The peppermint shrimp finally decided to emerge from his safe haven between the two large rocks in our saltwater tank.

A bunch more pictures can be seen on my flickr account. I almost got a shot of him cleaning the angel fish, but it was pretty tricky with the low light and quickness of the fish.

Anyway, check 'em out.

New Saltwater Tank Additions

2007-02-05T13:12:00.001-05:00

Pyramid Snail, originally uploaded by Geis.

Now that the fish from the Denoviches have grown accustom to the new tank and surrounding, Heather and I decided to add a few hardy invertibrites to the group. We picked up a Pyramid snail which can be seen in the picture attached to this blog; a blue-legged hermit crab which so far has stayed out of the view of the camera; and a Peppermint shrimp which is a tricky photography subject and has eluded me thus far in the taking of a quality shot.

The gameplan was to get a few crawlers to sort of stir up the bottom and eat some of the algae in the tank. Interestingly enough, the shrimp immediately began cleaning the fish in the tank with its long antennae. The black angel-like fish has been seen on a number of occasions to be hanging out within the reach of the shrimp's antennae for a cleaning.

Hopefully more pictures to come.

14 Pounds of Sushi

2007-02-05T13:06:00.001-05:00

14 Pounds of Sushi, originally uploaded by Geis.

Mike Ressler, Matt Nichols, and I prepared 14 pounds of sushi on Sunday afternoon for the Superbowl/WoW gaming day. Total prep time was probably somewhere around 3 and a half hours.

Different sushi ingredients used included a preseasoned eel, salmon, tuna, crab meat, cucumber, avacado and creamcheese (with a little chili powder mixed in).

All of this accompanied by a fresh draught of Brooklyn Brown Ale from ther kegerator.

Freakin' Snow!

2007-02-01T00:05:00.001-05:00

Jack sprinting throught the fresh snow, originally uploaded by Geis.

The title is my attempt to capture Jack's enthusiasm, or excitement at least, as he sprinted through the 2 inches of freshly fallen powder.

Not long after this backyard hangout, his antics were accompanied by a much larger, much smellier dog named Alex.

Alex, a matching gigantor participant of the Ressler squad, is a Collie with a bit less speed than Jack; on the other hand, his arm his twice Jack's weight. This makes the brawling excitement a test of time before hilarity ensues.

Hopefully more pics of Alex + Jack to come.

Ha ha. Made you look.

2007-01-31T23:47:00.000-05:00

Yea, I'm not really going to blog about much here. I just redesigned my main World Of Geis site. The sad thing is that only a few posts ago, I was doing the same thing, hoping I would blog more and somehow keep track of my life instead of getting sucked into video games and work (and sadly not much else these days).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and EXPECT MORE SOON!

Probably not. Plus, does anybody read this sucker any way.

*Note to self: use "suck" less often. It's now twice in this post and once on the website. Sigh.

First Official Ride

2006-10-09T00:02:00.000-04:00

DSC_3446
Originally uploaded by denovich.

I didn't realize this until today, but this afternoon was really the first official bike-ride for the Daytona. Or at least for the Daytona + Geis...

Either way, Denovich and I took a considerable ride up through New Bethlehem (much better than Old Bethlehem, if you know what i'm sayin). Although we had to cut the ride short due to time considerations (Dinner at the in-laws...), we still put a fresh 180 on the ol' odometer.

In summary, a great day to ride and a great bike on which to ride. I'm considerably pleased with my Triumph purchase at this point, and I don't see any changing that perception in the future.

BTW, thanks to Doc for the pic.

Geo-Cached Code

2006-07-25T11:28:00.000-04:00

Geo-Cached Code
Originally uploaded by Geis.

GeoCaching Set

Jake and I decided to try out some geo-caching last Sunday out near his house in Plymouth (just outside Wilkes-Barre). The cache was located down at this place called The Seven Tubs which contained a large creek with a bunch of small pools which you can swim and jump into.
So we grabbed our swim trunks, Sue's dog Beaut, and a GPS device Jake was borrowing from his buddy and took off for the cache.

For being my first cache, it was definitely a good experience overall. We had to do some tree climbing and general foraging, not to mention the intense mosquito fighting (I don't know about Jake, but I certainly lost that battle as I currently have upwards of 50 to 60 bites on my legs, arms, and the webbing of both my hands - scratch, scratch).

Anyway, check out the pics.

Ps. If you plan to do this cache for some reason or another, I would advise against actually looking at the pictures since they sort of give away the entire thing.

I Got Married

2006-06-28T09:10:00.001-04:00

Heather's Face
Originally uploaded by Geis.

It's been awhile since I blogged last and I decided to catch up those of you in the dark.

I got married.

This is a picture of my wife snorkeling in Hawaii during our honeymoon.
That's all you're getting for now.

New World of Geis

2006-04-27T22:18:00.000-04:00

New World of Geis
Originally uploaded by Geis.

The best part is that if you go to the site right now, there's a picture of the worldOFgeis in my recent flickr pictures bar.

It's awesome.

Sushi Lunch

2006-04-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

Sushi Lunch
Originally uploaded by Geis.

I went a little crazy and got some sushi for lunch today.
Although it looks prepackaged, it was actually made on the spot. The other nice thing is that sooo many people eat at the Sushi Shop that there's no way they have any stale food there since they get cleaned out so quickly.

La Basorouse

2006-04-25T20:57:00.000-04:00

La Basorouse
Originally uploaded by Geis.

Dinner was a little bit more formal tonight.
I wandered into Old Montreal after the Agile Development With HCI class. I was amazed with how few people were over there, but was lucky enough to find Chez Suzette still open.
Everything at Suzette's comes in a Crepe. When I spotted La Basorouse which is a crepe stuffed with bacon, avocado, and sour cream, I decided to test Denovich's theory that 'any meal with bacon in it is a good meal'.
It was good stuff. I precluded the meal with a bowl of baked french onion soup. Also very good.
At the end of the meal, I got into a bit of a discussion with the waiter and eventually decided to ask what La Basorouse referred to. He said that it sort of meant like 'a meal of german liking'. I told him I just wanted to make sure it didn't mean 'A Fat American' (you know, with the bacon and everything) and that I fell right into the trap. He assured me that this wasn't the case.
He brought up the conference and we briefly discussed it. The woman at the table next to me wanted to make sure that there were representatives from Microsoft at the CHI conference because 'they usually dont do a good job with understanding what the user wants'. I ensured her of their presence.

XBox 360 Design Critique

2006-04-25T10:58:00.000-04:00

XBox 360 Design Critique
Originally uploaded by Geis.

Microsoft showed up this morning to the CHI2006 conference to critique their own design process.
Interestingly enough, they admitted openingly that they did extensive user testing, and then decided to choose an interface that came in a distant third because of the difficulties necessary to implement the more usable interface in only 3MB of space (this was their restriction since they knew the wouldn't necessarily be shipping all XBOX 360's with harddrives).
It was an interesting talk. I've put up a bunch of photos on my Flickr Site.

Semi-Cool Dinner

2006-04-24T19:47:00.000-04:00

Mmmm
Originally uploaded by Geis.

Being how the rain has yet to relent, I decided to grab a few Guinness Draughts, a chicken gyro, and some rice (from a Mediterranean restaurant) and come back to the hotel to do some work and goof around on the internet a little bit.
I figure if I can finish up everything I have to do tonight, then when the weather's nice on Thursday and Friday, I'll get to run around a little.
It's supposed to be below freezing tomorrow morning (-1 Celsius) with a slight frost. Good stuff, Montreal.
Anyway, I'm not trying to over-blog this trip or anything, but I felt a need to post this at least.
And by the way, the dinner was awesome. If I wasn't eating it in my hotel room, it would have been perfect. I saw a Sushi place right in the Palais des Congres where the conference is being held and I think I'll hit that up tomorrow... I'm pretty psyched about it actually.

PAIX (This means PEACE in French, but I somehow doubt it translates into the attempted Gangsta sign-off that I'm trying to do here)

This Weather is so French

2006-04-24T13:13:00.000-04:00

It's Crappy Out
Originally uploaded by Geis.

Est-ce que je peux avoir mon ticket de caisse?

Now that Vocollect has removed the per diem policy, I have to remember to get my check when done eating.

So far, I find myself marveling in my ability to spit out half-baked french sentences to the waitresses and have them actually respond to me in french, that I never remember to ask pour le ticket de caisse.

I've found out that by attempting to speak french, I simply put myself in a worse position because I often cannot decipher the return response. I then have to say something very obviously English so that they realize that I know about 10-12 commonly used phrases which I am pre-pending to an oftenly multi-lingual noun in hopes to saying something meaningful.

Oh well, so far I've spend about $12 that Vocollect won't have to worry about. But I'm staying at the Delta (Centre-Ville: in case you care to look it up) and living it large, which I can hardly complain about...

Oh yea, it's been terrible weather-wise. Hopefully things clear up so I get a chance to take some nice shots.

Sparks

2006-04-21T18:48:00.000-04:00

Sparks
Originally uploaded by amyadoyzie.

its been too long since i've Sparks-ed.

Taking it all in

2006-04-04T18:39:00.000-04:00

IMG_1703
Originally uploaded by Shaft0rz.

Just wanted to throw up a post with a link to Big Pete's Photo's from Las Vegas.

Matt's are located here:

The Loop

2006-04-02T21:37:00.000-04:00

Seriously, you need to watch this show:

The chics are hot and the humor is completely inappropriate. It's a can't miss.

Action Jack

2006-04-02T21:30:00.000-04:00

IMG_3956.JPG
Originally uploaded by Geis.

Heather and I picked up some sandwiches from Franco's and headed over to Boyce Park with Jack this afternoon.

Here are some good shots of Jack and Heather: Flickr Pictures

the World of Geis

2006-03-23T08:27:00.000-05:00

So in case you are quite unaware of the concept of links, or simply have not taken a gander at the link module on the right side of this screen... I have a website called WorldOfGeis.com.
I finished it up last night while watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Comcast is attempting to lure me into the wonderful world of Soprano's and free movies with a week free of HBO. So far I've been able to DVR Shaun of the Dead, iRobot, as well as the aforementioned flick.

I must say that, although slightly dry here and there, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can really hit the spot if in the appropriate mood. The finale song, Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes (redone by Beck), was just PERFECT at finishing that movie off. I actually found myself watching the credits roll just to hear the whole song. Good stuff.

Anyway, the point is: Check Out My Website
I still have a decent amount of work to do here, but for now, its at least up and running.

Bacon for Brunch

2006-03-15T21:41:00.000-05:00

While traveling to Philadelphia today on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I safely zipped by 6 cops. Thanks to good ol' cruise control I was able to maintain a just-less-than-tempting 72 mph speed, keeping me out of reach of any purposeless ticketing.
I've been back and forth all day as to whether I should be pissed that there were 6 cops (actually, there were 5 regular state cops and one undercover, maroon-colored vehicle) out on the turnpike between the hours of 10am and 2pm.
On the one hand, the idea that I had to avoid getting pegged with a $100+ fine just for cruising at a reasonable speed on a 3 lane superhighway is enough to get on my nerves. Then again, it makes me feel better knowing that I've never seen so much bacon during my regular turnpike-traveling time.
So, as long as they're willing to stick to their side of the deal and make certain to work the hardest on humpday during ciesta, I think I'll let it slide.

25 cent slots

2006-03-12T15:35:00.000-05:00

Guess who I saw playing the 25 cent slots at the MGM Grand:

Michael Buble (Boob lay [TF...DPTF])

The Denoviches Are Weird

2006-03-08T13:27:00.000-05:00

Denoviches Being Weird
Originally uploaded by Geis.

But so are Heather and I ( aka. the Soon-To-Be-Geislers; aka the 36 Mafia ).

We took a quick trip this past Sunday up to Deer Lake. It was pretty good times. The major benefits were being able to get outside and enjoy some nature. Unfortunately, the afternoon seemed more like the drab winter days which I keep hoping are over with. Considering the dullness of the sun and the chilliness of the temperature, both Mark and I were able to get some decent shots.

Cingular 8125

2006-03-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

Cingular 8125
Originally uploaded by Geis.

I recently decided that my Sony Ericsson T637 just wasn't cutting it. I've been looking around for awhile at a number of "smarter" phones to handle my desire for internet access on-the-road.
Furthermore, I've been itching for a PDA to keep track of my meetings and email, while allowing me to browse the internet over WIFI.

Enter the Cingular 8125. Although not necessarily the best thing since sliced bread, it has definitely taken care of both of my prerequisites so far. The use of WIFI is perfect for checking my POP3 gmail account when at home on my couch or at work during a meeting, and the ability to dial in to Cingular for a quick price check while perusing through Best Buy has been crazy delicious.
Being the absented-minded, forgetful, internet-dependent nerd that I am, I find the soothing presence of internet access stashed in my pants to be blissful.

Enough about that. Let's take a tour around the extremeties of the Cingular 8125.

The top is relatively boring. Power button and a Mini-SD slot.

The right side of the phone, from top to bottom, contains a soft key for voice dialing; the stereo-right speaker; an infrared port; a reset button which I believe resets the soft keys; and the camera button.

The bottom of the phone, from right to left, contains the stylis pen inside its holder; a USB charging/syncing port; and the headset jack for hands-free or simply listening to mp3 and movies.

The syncing process is relatively painless with the provided Microsoft ActiveSync software.

The left side of the phone, from right to left, contains the stereo-left speaker; the volume adjuster; and the WIFI/Bluetooth soft key which basically just allows you to access appropriate menu for turning on or off WIFI and Bluetooth.

The camera is 1.3 Megapixels and is accompanied by the typical mirror and the soon-to-be-typical "flash" which is really just a bright light that gets brighter when a picture is taken. Its more of a flashlight than a flash though.

Probably the coolest physical feature of the Cingular 8125 is the pull out full-QWERTY keyboard with plenty of thumb room. When the keyboard is slid out to the left of the phone, the screen rotates 90 degrees to allow for a widescreen view. I apologize for the face that has been left on the screen in this photo. The one down side to using the phone is that the screen you then plan to use to browse your email is smeared with face-grime.

Other than the physical features, there's not too much more to talk about. The Cingular 8125 runs Windows Mobile CE version 5.0 and has a typical interface to most CE devices. The audio through the external speakers is relatively impressive. The dual speakers allow for some stereo quality, although since they face directly outward from the phone, its likely that you will receive a stronger left or right signal than a fully stereo signal.

Anyway, thats all I've got for now. I may post more later if I discover some amazing feature I have forgotten about.

Pyramat PM220

2006-02-26T21:15:00.000-05:00

Pyramat PM220
Originally uploaded by Geis.

Finally got it. Dj informed me that they had this down at the Target in West Mifflin. I was able to convince Heather to take a late Sunday trip over there and pick one up.

Appraisal: so far, so good; Its comfortable and keeps you in a good position for your back, as well as providing some insane bass.

Downtown

2006-02-26T14:32:00.000-05:00

downtown
Originally uploaded by Geis.

On my return from the unsuccessful trip to Target in order to get one of these: PM 220

geis is a blogger, I guess

2006-02-26T13:55:00.000-05:00

Looks like I'll be starting to blog. We'll see how it goes. At the very least, the hookups with Flickr should be interesting...