Category: Fun Stuff

  • 60 Degree Day

    What a day today, just an incredible temperature jump this weekend. Two days of 60-degree temps in January is rare, so I made an extra effort to get a run today. The Blackstone Bike Path was really busy today, again highly unusual in January. The parking lot had 20ish cars and the traffic along the bike path reminded me of early spring when everyone is excited to be outside.

    View this post on Instagram

    #running #instarunners 60 degree #winterrunning

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    Today we also started our Pinewood Derby car designs. The plan right now is to complete three cars, my oldest son may also enter a car which would be a fourth car.

    This is our last Pinewood Derby race with Pack 12, in March my youngest son will be crossing over into Boy Scouts, my wife and I will be stepping down from our positions in the Pack (Cubmaster and Den Leader).

    Lastly, we took full advantage of the warm day and cooked on the grill tonight. We used my wife’s Meater “smart” thermometer for the first time and it worked out well. The steak was cooked perfectly, often I overcook meat on the grill “just to be safe”.

    For me this falls into the extravagant, overkill, bordering on ridiculous category. That said, it’s a really cool device and I can clearly see how it makes the “home gamer” cook better and more efficiently. You can bring the meat to the exact right temperature and it even alerts you when to remove it from the heat, which is just a few degrees BEFORE it reaches temp. The meat rises a few more degrees after removed from the grill and hits the desired temp.

  • Jurassic Park Jeep

    Jurassic Park Jeep – EpicMovieCars.com

    My son had a Jurassic Park Movie themed Birthday Party over the weekend. After watching the original movie my wife coordinated a visit from TWO real-life Jurassic Park cars. These cars were a big hit for the kids….and adults.

    Kids had a ride around the neighborhood and had fun scaring some dogs with the built-in (hidden) speakers that played some classic sound effects from the movie. Just think growling dinosaur with extra bass…fun stuff!

    The vehicles were in mint condition! You can check out their website here: EpicMovieCars.com

  • WordPress Twenty Twenty

    Trying out the new Twenty Twenty WordPress theme on here. I always jump on the new WordPress default themes when they come out. We’ll see how it goes.

  • LastPass Unlocked Event

    Last Thursday, October 3, 2019 I had an opportunity to attend LastPass’s UnlockedCybersecurity & Identity Trends event in Boston, MA.

    The panel of security experts included:

    • Bill Cheswick, Computer Security and Networking Researcher
    • Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer/Vice President for LogMeIn
    • Steve Gibson, Software Engineer, Security Researcher, and Host of the Security Now Podcast. grc.com

    I’m a big fan of Twit.tv, Leo Laporte, Steve Gibson and I use LastPass every day. So I was really excited to attend the event knowing I’d be participating in an engaging and fun conversation around security, passwords, and learn more about Steve’s solution for passwords, the SQRL project.

    The full-length video of the discussion is available on YouTube, which I’ve embedded below.

    Twit’tv Coverage of the Cybersecurity & Identity Trends Unlocked Event
    October 3, 2019 – Boston, MA
    Twit.tv’s Leo Laporte at the LastPass Unlocked event in Boston, October 2019
    Steve Gibson – grc.com
  • April 2019 Running Update

    My run has been on a steady decline since before December 2018. March and April I focused on ramping up my mileage again.

  • Foxborough Hometown Fans Send a Message to the Patriots Ahead of Super Bowl LIII


    Earlier today I led a team of staff members and volunteers to produce this short video message that was sent to the New England Patriots for viewing by the team just before Super Bowl LIII.

    The highlight video was completed in 3hrs immediately following a town rally on the common. Just a small-town America rally, full of well wishes for the hometown team. Hectic day, but I had a great time working with some talented people.

  • Christmas Light Controller Project – Part 1

    Last weekend my son and I embarked on our second Christmas light controller project. I’m not sure how sophisticated our lights will end up, but we both like learning about electronics and the challenge of DIY.  

    This current project builds upon our experience gain from constructing an eight channel Raspberry Pi light control. That setup now controls our Christmas tree lights and still needs some software tweaking, but works reasonably well.

    Light-O-Rama CTB16PC Kit

    This time we upgraded to a Light-O-Rama Kit that can be set up outside more easily and can be easily expanded by purchasing additional kits. The software is also much more sophisticated than what we used on the Raspberry Pi, allowing for all kinds of creativity.

    For now, we purchased one 16-channel control kit (CTB16PC) which comes with over 175 components that need to be soldered. This is the FUN part!

    When the kit arrive, I quickly realized the this was a much bigger project than I was expecting from a soldering standpoint. I’ve assembled audio XLR cables and some other small soldering projects in the past, but never tiny components like the ones in this kit.

    My small soldering iron with it’s worn down medium sized tip was not going to work for this. My son headed to a local electronics specialty store, “You-do-it” Electronics Center in Needham, MA to purchase a few tools.

    In Part Two, I’ll share the tools we purchased and the soldering class we stumbled upon.

    More soon.

  • TinyRSS – Enable API Fails (SOLVED)

    I just got around to upgrading my TinyRSS install to the latest version. I use TinyRSS for pulling in news and blogs that I like to follow. One of the main uses is for staying on top of video production trade news. I really like TinyRSS!

    After the upgrade I was trying to get the app on my cell phone working again, which requires the TinyRSS API to be enabled. This can be turned on in the TinyRSS preferences. Every time I went to turn the API on it would fail with an error message, ” “{“error”:{“code”:13,”message”:”Method not found”}}”

    After searching the web I discovered the error is caused by LastPass, which I use as a password manager. For me the easiest solution was to log out of LastPass for a few minutes, then log into TinyRSS and enable the API. Bingo! Problem Solved.

  • Video Production Trade News – Week of November 5, 2017

    Each week I share select trade news articles with students enrolled in my New England Tech video production classes. It’s critical in any field to remain current, follow emerging trends, examine best practices, and learn about various challenges that face the industry.

    Below are some articles from the past week that were discussed during class:

    1. HDR TV Shipments to Reach 48M in 2021

    High Dynamic Range (HDR) video is a fairly new technology that is gaining momentum. Just a few years ago I was discussing the rise of 3D TVs and shared my skepticism of the long-term viability of 3D as a true “game-changer”. HDR is different and I think it’s something students need to watch and learn more about. How will producing content in HDR impact the production process? How does HDR impact the editing process? What skills should we be developing to be ready for HDR? 

    Source: http://www.tvtechnology.com/business/0011/report-hdr-tv-shipments-to-reach-nearly-48m-in-2021/282201 

    2. WBZ-AM’s new owner tells employees to re-apply for jobs

    iHeartMedia, the company acquiring local radio news titan WBZ-AM has indicated employees at the station will have to re-apply for their positions, and that it does not plan to honor two union contracts.

    Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/11/03/wbz-would-owners-tells-employees-apply-for-their-jobs/Q8ZIoWcVH5bEPSN1Yy1kvM/story.html