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Well, because Myles is busy and I have time, I am here to give everyone a LONG OVERDUE update on our doings. We had a very long and tiring move - total of 31 hours actually traveling in the vehicles, not including time spent stopped to eat, fill up with gas, and sleep. The trip started at about 6:30 on Wednesday morning, and we arrived on Friday around 1:00. Talk about exhausting! Here’s the overview from beginning to end:

Loading the truck. This went better than I expected, though it wasn’t without minor snags. Big thanks to Melody, who came by on Monday and helped me with the packing. She pretty much packed my entire kitchen by herself while I worked on other things… and I really appreciate that because I hate packing breakables like cups… it takes way too long.

Then on Tuesday Mom, Michael and Garrett drove out from Templeton and helped us load things up… Mom was awesome and kept everything moving while we all lifted, carried and loaded. She even cleaned things up and vacuumed for me, so by the time everything was in the truck, the apartment was clean, too! Thanks, Mom! Michael helped Myles load a lot of the heavy stuff, which was great because I wouldn’t have been able to help him… I just didn’t have the strength So big thanks to Michael for making the trip out, we couldn’t have done it without you! Garrett was in charge of the smaller items and packed up boxes in the living room, and I also enjoyed sitting next to him at dinner when everything was done. It was good to see you, little bro.

David and Tracie came by later in the day, and not a second too soon, because we were all getting really tired and had encountered a small issue - the truck was full and we still had stuff to pack! Minor problem. But David is really a Tetris Master in disguise, because he did what I thought couldn’t be done… he pulled some things out and repacked some things here and there, and somehow, amazingly… got everything into the truck! Awesome. Tracie helped with the Tetris-mastery and the last-minute packing and carrying, and slowly we were able to get… everything… finally… out of the house and into the truck! It was such a strange feeling when the door closed… we had finally completed a very monumental task, and we did it together. Then a fun dinner and some tearful goodbyes… it was hard to see everyone go. Love you all, and thank you!

The 1200-mile drive. As mentioned before, this took a while. Myles drove the truck with the Volvo on a trailer, and I drove the Honda behind. After a little effort where we had to re-pack the Volvo in order to fit 2 disassembled bicycles that didn’t make it into the truck, we left on Wednesday at 6:30 with one of the nicest sunrises I’ve seen (at least in the Central Valley) coming up over Fresno. A quick stop for coffee at Dutch Brothers and we were off! It wasn’t very long before we realized that the truck/trailer combination was very unstable. U-Haul wasn’t kidding when they told us the speed limit was 45 mph. Myles got onto the freeway and at about 60 the trailer started rocking back and forth in a menacing way. Then he hit 65 and it began to shake harder - the trailer was physically pulling the back of the U-Haul, and instead of balancing they were actually working against each other. It reminded me of the Galloping Gertie bridge collapse. Very scary. Myles got the truck back under control, but wasn’t able to drive it much faster than 50 mph without danger. So slowly it was!

We drove east through CA and then took the I-15 northeast up to Las Vegas. It was a mind-numbing drive through the desert… nothing to see out there. Then we hit traffic on I-15… some accident had us at practically a standstill for hours. We had some hand radios with us, and used those to chat with each other. I wonder if anyone else was on the channel listening? I also chatted a bit on the phone and text-messaged with people… it kept me going. By the time we got to Las Vegas I was exhausted, and the traffic was stop-and-go again through town, so we decided to just stop. We got a room at the Holiday Inn and went out for some dinner. We drove down the strip for fun… wow! But we didn’t so any sight-seeing… too tired.

Next morning it was a quick stop for breakfast and coffee and then we were off again! We drove briefly through Arizona and then into Utah, up the I-15 to the I-70 East. What a beautiful drive! The red rocks were gorgeous. One of the only times we stopped. Unfortunately, this was also when our picture-taking stopped… we had been taking pictures like mad and the battery ran down. We realized too late that we had forgotten to leave out the battery charger for the camera… so we took pictures of red rocks until the camera could go no more. We continued all the way through Utah and into Grand Junction, Colorado where we stayed for one more night.

The last leg of our trip took us up over the mountains through Vail Pass. How gorgeous, how gorgeous!! I spent more time looking around me then I did looking at the road! The altitude at the peak of the pass was over 10,000 feet and I could feel it. The air felt thin and I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air. The mountains were beautiful, and there were these beautiful little towns just dotted throughout the passes, and many ski parks. I can’t wait until this winter, when I can go skiing! We drove along the Colorado River for a while, which was beautiful and had signs warning of Bighorn sheep crossing. There were no sheep to be seen, but we did see people rafting down the river and a hang glider flying down from one of the mountain-tops. Very neat!

By this time we were very tired, and still moving slowly. My stamina and patience was reaching its end. But it got better as we came into Denver, because I knew we were almost there. A brief and frustrating bit of traffic slowed us down outside of Denver, then finally we headed north and made it to Fort Collins. Boy was I happy to arrive!

Home sweet home. We arrived at around 1:00 and Sean came to help us unpack. I met our neighbor and her dog, and she was very relieved to find out that I was moving in with my husband and not a bunch of roommates. The unpacking went very well… I carried the light stuff and Sean and Myles carried the heavy stuff. I was very glad Sean was there, because I would not have been able to handle the heavy stuff with Myles. Thanks, Sean! It only took a few hours, and after we were done we went to Oldtown for some much needed dinner and relaxation.

I think that overall, the trip went very well. I know that we’ve promised pictures to everybody, but that darn charger still hasn’t shown up. Myles is working and I’m at home unpacking. I know that it will turn up soon, and then we’ll have pics for everyone to see! I know this was a long post, but I wanted give everyone the details. I’ll let Myles have the blog back for a while, and if he doesn’t post again, I’ll write more.

-Kim

I have a vision for the Hondat (our 2001 Honda Accord, yes I know, original name). I see a GPS guidance system, voice activated environmental controls, and engine stats. I see digital maintenance logs, gigabytes of media, and integrated hands-free over bluetooth. I see…a carputer.

I am starting down the long (and potentially expensive) path of designing, installing, and implementing a custom carputer.  I plan on using this blog not only to share my adventures, but to help organize all my ideas.  Thus begins the feature list:

• 7″ Touchscreen interface
• Additional 4.5″ LCD monitor
• Micro-ATX form factor for the computer
• Bluetooth
• GPS integration
• Media player (mp3, mpeg, jpeg, etc…)
• Engine stats via OBDII
• Engine diagnostics
• Maintenance Log with reminders
• Digital Environmental Controls
• Voice activated controls
• Trip logs

All this will be integrated into one slick interface.

Other low-priority possibilities include:

• Door lock and trunk control
• Window control
• External sensors (ie. weather sensors, IR, tire pressure, etc…)
• External Cameras
• Wifi
• Car Alarm
• Customized profiles based on driver with some sort of auto recognition (keyed fobs, voice recognition, something…)

I know there is software already out there that does all of this, but I’m looking at this as a learning tool and an exciting hobby.  I plan on using quite a bit of third party components, but I want to integrate them all myself.  I plan on this all being based off of a Linux OS.  Probably something like LFS so I am aware of every package installed on the system.

So here is the first draft of my carputer requirements.  I will most likely be editing this page as new ideas pop into my head, or initial ideas are refined.  I will also be using the tag system to expand on my adventures with each feature.  OBDII will be first up on that list, since I already have an OBDII to USB connector, compliments of Sean (thanks for the birthday present!).

So I have completed an entire week of work at Pelco and things appear to be going well.  I am amazed at how pleasant it is to work in a linux development environment.  I have already learned several new tricks on the command line, customized my gvim experience, and even learned some more reasons to hate IE.  Yes, it is quite an experience and I am looking forward to assuming my place in Fort Collins.

Speaking of Fort Collins, Kim and I are quite excited to get out there.  Move day is July 16 (our 3 year anniversary!) and every weekend between now and then is booked.  Including this past weekend and the weekend prior to that.  This means all of our packing is going to be happening in the copious amounts of free time we have during the week, ooof.  This makes the thought of being in Fort Collins even more appealing because that means our move will be complete.

As I mentioned in my last post, Kim and I moved a mere 4 months ago to the place we’re presently occupying.  It is a one bedroom flat that has been very nice, but involved a fair amount of trimming down to fit in there.  This has actually been a blessing now that we are moving again.  So we continued the trend this past weekend by weeding out another 3 or 4 boxes of stuff.  Shedding oneslef of predominantly unused stuff is a very good feeling.

In other news, I have developed a strong desire to deck out our Honda with a carputer.  I am planning on using this blog as an organizational tool for my ideas, so plan on seeing several posts regarding the project as it develops.

Hello all my faithful readers (read people who have me on their RSS readers)!

This will be my first substantive post in about 9 months.  Believe it or don’t some things have happened in that time.  The first thing I will draw attention to is the new theme.  It has been heavily customized to suit my needs and features a photo that I took with my DSLR at Yosemite.

Kimberly has cut her hair really short and we have moved again since last time I blogged. One of the biggest changes however, is yet to come. I recently received and accepted an offer from Pelco that entails the two of us moving to Fort Collins, CO. So in as little as six weeks from now, we will no longer be Californians.  This job came about with many thanks (and a dinner!) to Sean for getting my foot in the door.  Without his recommendation my resume would not have made it past HR.

Hopefully more details will follow over the course of the next six weeks, but I won’t make any promises given my current track record. Before I go I would also like to note that the gallery has also suffered a theme change.  This theme is still in its infancy, so be patient with it.  Eventually it is going to make a far superior viewing environment than anything flickr presently offers.

Until next time…

The next trip that I made was grueling. Over 1200 miles in 2 days to move Sean to Fort Collins, Colorado. We spent 19 hours the first day traveling, 16 of it on the road. In case you’re interested in the route, go here. We stayed at the very pleasant La Quinta Inn, that offers the distinguishing feature of a fabulous breakfast complete with waffle maker and ready-to-go waffle mix. The only free hotel breakfast I’ve encountered that’s better is Embassy Suites with their made-to-order omelettes and bacon (few things are better than bacon).

The next day was quite easy with the leisurely wake-up time of 9:01 AM (MDT) and only a 5 hour drive ahead of us. We encountered heavy traffic at the I-76/I-25 on ramp (of which there is almost 2 miles) and some stupid Coloradans driving slowly by an accident that was on the other side of the median, but other than that there was no incident.

We managed to get the Moving truck half-way emptied before Mary showed up to give us a hand and Sean some decorating advice (For those not in the know, she has been living in Boulder, CO for 2 months now). After emptying the truck we went to a Mexican restaurant in Old Town Fort Collins, which had some wonderful food, and then to Coopersmith’s pub and pool hall. I sampled two beers there; the Handrawn Punjabi (HanJabi) and the Green Chile Ale (absolutely delightful, strange as it sounds).

The next day Sean and I went to a restaurant called “The Egg and I” that specializes in Eggs Benedict, and for good reason. It was extremely tasty and I reccommend it anyone near one of their 31 locations. Aftewards we spent several hours futzing with the satellite dish finally deciding to let Dish Network professionally install the beast and then drowned ours TV woes in some New Belgium Beers at the New Belgium Liquid Center (or something like that, means tasting room though). They have a, hopefully contagious, policy of giving you four beers to sample for free, just for showing up to their room. I sampled a Trippel, a 1554, Eric’s Brew, and of course, La Folie. For those not as of yet acquainted with La Folie, it is New Belgium’s version of a Sour Brown, though given the taste and wikipedia’s description, it is much closer to a Flander’s Red than a sour brown. Needless to say, it is the most complex beer you will ever taste and if you have never had a sour brown, I suggest you find one to sample immediately.

Later that evening Sean, Mary, and Myself went to Rock Bottom (a restaurant very similar to Red Robin and BJ’s) where we sampled some beers, ate some food, and stuffed ourselves with Carrot Cake. After rolling out the front door we made our way to the theatre across the parking lot and watched the movie “Stardust.” I highly reccommend this movie, it is funny, light-hearted and awakens the kid in us all.

The last day found Sean and I putting together a bed, a desk and undoing some boxes. We also found ourselves back at The Egg and I to meet Arrin (Erin Manning) and Jay (Jay) for some brunch. They are living and going to school in Denver so it was about an hour drive for them to come meet us, but a very nice thing that they did. I haven’t seen Arrin or Jay in at least a couple years, so it was great that we worked out the visit.

Finally around 5:50 PM, after a short (relatively) drive to Denver, I took off in a CanadAir Jet towards Fresno. It was a long, but extremely pleasant trip that Sean made the more so through his gratitude and hospitality for my help. I hereby wish him luck and require him to stay in touch throughout his stay in Fort Collins and elsewhere in life. This will probably also put a mar in my track record of helping him with every move he’s had since 2001, seeing as how he is most likely moving again in some months and he is 1200 miles away.

Pictures from the trip can be found here.

So there has been a lot of traveling as of late and I have not blogged about it one bit! So two posts consecutively about my travels.

First off I went to Oregon for Sammot’s Wedding (I know she’s Samantha Trask now, which doesn’t make Sammot, but she’s always going to Sammot to me…) and it was positively lovely, in all regards. It started with a beautiful ceremony between Brian and Samantha, er Brandon and Samantha and both Brian and Sam were crying through most of it, er Brandon. It was followed by an excellently done reception and much dancing. It was practically like a high school reunion and I spent a lot of time talking with Jason Reno and the Guthmillers (Matt and Amanda).

After a good night’s sleep at the Cedar something Inn, I spent some time garage saleing and exploring my old stomping grounds. I have to say that getting back to OR was surprisingly comfortable. I have been in CA now for over 6 years and I had thought that I had completely assimiliated, but alas there is a beauty and comfortableness in OR that CA has yet to rival.

After getting my fill of driving around I went to lunch with Amanda and Matt during which they very graciously offered to put me up for the night. It was really a lot of fun to get to hang out with them and see two people that are very nearly at the same point in life as Kim and I. They managed to get the added bonus of owning their own home already, which is a wonderful place I might add. At some point in the not too distant future I would like to get Kim up there and meet them, because I think that we would have a lot of fun hanging out with them.

After lunch and some social time with the Guthmillers I went over to Sammot’s parents’ house and joined in the present-opening, post-wedding BBQ that Mr. and Mrs. Mott were hosting. It was the first time that I’d been able to sit down and chat with Sammot and Brandon, so that was very nice and as icing on the cake there was some fabulous food there. So I whiled away the afternoon and evening in pleasant company in time to go to bed, get up early and make the 8 hour drive home.

Pictures of this event can be found at my gallery

For those of you that read my blog whom are not techies, you may proceed to skip this post, or be forewarned that the contents of this post will mostly be relevant only for techies (I can make up words if I want to). The rest of you may proceed forthwith.

From the Wikipedia article on DES

The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a cipher (a method for encrypting information) selected as an official Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for the United States in 1976, and which has subsequently enjoyed widespread use internationally.

I was recently presented with the task of communicating from a PHP website to an ASP.NET site via a webservice method. Easy enough, use SOAP pass the appropriate parameters and you’re done. The problem arose in that the ASP.NET designers chose have the parameters encrypted manually as opposed to using the SSL. This meant the above mentioned DES.

DES is a block cipher, meaning that all encrypted bits resulting from this algorithm are going to be a block of 64 bits or in the case of ascii 8 characters. All plain-text passed in for encryption must be padded at the end with a predetermined character in order to meet the criteria of an 8 character block.

Both .NET and PHP have a library call to encrypt data using the DES algorithm. PHP uses the ‘\0′ or null character as the padding character for its 8 character blocks. It also forces to select what is called the cipher mode, which can be a number of algorithms I won’t get into. Microsoft on the other hand does not indicate either the default cipher mode or the character used for padding.

After most of an 8 hour day I figured out the defaults for .NET thanks to some resourceful people blogging about it on the internet. .NET’s DES algorithm uses the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) cipher mode and the PKCS7 algorithm to determine the character added to the end of a short block. With the help of my resource I was able to implement PKC7S in my PHP code using the following code:

$imod = strlen($plain_text) % 8;
$ipad = 8 - $imod;
for ($iX = 0; $iX < 8 - $imod; $iX++)
$plain_text .= chr($ipad);

I hope someone else can find that as useful as I did. A few other useful things I found out are that strings in PHP are by default ASCII encoded, when decoding in PHP from PHP make sure to use rtrim($text, “\0″) before returning, and try/catch blocks are only available in >= PHP 5. It was very gratifying to complete this and have it function properly, so that is why I share.

…an overnight delivery from Amazon. (Read in reverse order)

June 25, 2007 06:18:00 AM VAN NUYS CA US Out for delivery
June 25, 2007 04:48:00 AM VAN NUYS CA US Arrival Scan
June 25, 2007 02:08:00 AM ONTARIO CA US Departure Scan
June 24, 2007 05:40:26 PM US Carrier notified to pick up package
June 24, 2007 04:48:00 PM ONTARIO CA US Arrival Scan
June 24, 2007 04:05:00 PM LOUISVILLE KY US Departure Scan
June 24, 2007 08:21:00 AM LOUISVILLE KY US Arrival Scan
June 24, 2007 01:29:00 AM OAKLAND CA US Departure Scan
June 23, 2007 10:15:00 PM OAKLAND CA US Arrival Scan
June 23, 2007 06:00:00 PM SPARKS NV US Departure Scan
June 23, 2007 05:34:00 PM SPARKS NV US Shipment picked up from seller’s facility

In other news Kimberly has started a new job at Architectural Testing, Inc. a, believe it or don’t, architectural testing firm. She will be an Administrative Assistant there and is spending all of this week in training at the York, PA corporate office. Her first business trip, very exciting.

So Kim and I made it to Lakeridge Apartments in one piece.  The week of the move was a bit on the hectic side though.  There is a client at work that was having all kinds of emergencies so I ended up pulling 79 hours for that entire week, 8 of which happened to be right in the middle of the move.  It’s a good thing that we hired movers to do the hard work, but still major kudos go out to David and Sean for their help (yet again) getting us moved into the new place.

On another note, I have reached the 6 month mark at my job and so my benefits have started to quick in.  Today is my first ever paid holiday, woot!  I am also going to start getting some health benefits and most likely a raise in the next month or so.

Other than that we are just getting settled and enjoying the new place.

Lata.