tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:54:09 +0000http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/index.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)Blogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-6831502686181696780Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:48:00 +00002008-07-06T11:54:09.039-07:00Just a post for posterity. I worked for the Fox TV show "24" in the fall of 2003, and I made it into a couple of the episodes. At a party last night we found the two episodes and I don't want to have to go back and look it up again. It was season 3, episodes "3PM" and "6PM". At 3PM, I was behind Tony when he's announcing to put all resources into finding Kyle Singer. At 6PM, I was an http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2008/07/background-extra-in-24.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-1533516765427767056Sat, 24 May 2008 04:44:00 +00002008-05-27T10:16:54.980-07:00There was a ~490 acre wildfire to the west of a town called Mount Baldy, which covers a portion of a trail I've hiked numerous times on my way to the summit of Mt. San Antonio (a.k.a. Mount Baldy, same name as the town, but it's a mountain peak a few miles away). Today I found a link which shows the perimeter of the fire: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1263/ Looks like Bear Flats, a very http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2008/05/mount-baldy-fire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-1114624903428695770Wed, 16 Jan 2008 07:06:00 +00002008-01-15T23:11:23.499-08:00If you are registered independent but want to vote to nominate a republican candidate during the upcoming Feb 5 primaries in California, you must re-register to vote with your county registrar (using a form here) as being in the Republican party. Form must be postmarked by Jan 22! I know, this is stupid, but the Republicans have elected to have a closed primary this time around. Then, on Feb 6http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2008/01/independent-but-want-to-participate-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-3941531605467767181Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:18:00 +00002008-01-05T22:27:25.526-08:00Over holiday, my brother and I recalled the rules for a billiards game I learned while in Japan - the game is called Baka Ball. I told him the rules right after I learned it, and then working together, we remembered the rules. So, rather than forget again, I'll just write down the rules here. The game is a twist on the standard billiards game, 9-ball, adding a bit of psychology into the mix. http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2008/01/baka-ball.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-3791673773176774050Tue, 04 Sep 2007 05:35:00 +00002007-09-11T19:15:57.033-07:00(Day 05 Photos), Juneau, the capital of Alaska, is only accessible by airplane or boat. The highways in town all end in dead ends, visible at this link - yet there are tons of cars around Juneau. Well, we used our boat to get there! This was another full day excursion, and ES and I planned to join my bro and JK on a Bike and Brew which was happening later in the day. This ended up being the http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/09/alaska-trip-day-5-juneau.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-1285351333305454868Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:52:00 +00002007-09-03T21:40:58.713-07:00Just finished the Disneyland half marathon this morning with ES. It was a hot race though - the officials suggested over the PA system that they may have to cancel the race if things got too hot which included disabling the timing systems. Clearly they didn't want to get in trouble if someone got hurt from heat exhaustion, etc. We woke up at 3a, and got to Disney by 4:15a. At that time it washttp://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/09/just-finished-disneyland-half-marathon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-5389554910501635983Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:49:00 +00002007-09-03T22:35:33.456-07:00(Day 06 Photos), We had a very long excursion day in Skagway, so there was no rush to get off the ship, or back on it either. The plan was to pickup our rental car (reserved) and then drive up the White Pass. Once we got to the "rental car place," we noticed that the parking lot was empty. Yes, that was a bad sign - they were having mechanical problems with two of their cars and, sorry, they http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/08/alaska-trip-day-5-skagway.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-2060816952849613253Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:20:00 +00002007-09-03T21:46:39.099-07:00(Day 04 Photos), our time in Ketchikan was very short, but based on the excursions available, it seemed like the most interesting. In hind sight, that was probably biased since we planned on doing our flightseeing in Ketchikan as my aunt and uncle had done. Flightseeing is a single propeller plane (de Havalland Beavers) which has pontoons allowing it to take off and land on the water. Lots of http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/08/alaska-trip-day-4-ketchikan-day-04.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-1651526073352385255Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:12:00 +00002007-09-03T21:47:31.484-07:00(Day 03 Photos), Not a whole lot to say about this day since we were at sea the whole day with not a lot going on outside the ship. It was mostly relaxing. We explored the ship and got familiar with what was where. I was looking out the balcony and noticed an animal in the water. I got ES and my mom out there and I got some pictures of what ended up being some dolphins. Lots of dolphins, http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/08/alaska-trip-day-3-at-sea-day-03-photos.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-454908141868505710Sat, 25 Aug 2007 05:57:00 +00002007-09-03T21:48:07.506-07:00A continuation of the day-by-day blog of my trip to Alaska. A link to pictures is included below... (Day 02 Photos), Woke up at a reasonable time to go on a morning tour of the city. We thought this would probably be the best way for DM and JK to see Vancouver a bit since they only had that morning before we got on the ship. A tour bus took us to see a few sights in town like a tall building http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/08/continuation-of-day-by-day-blog-of-my.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-3519287331731145569Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:20:00 +00002007-09-03T21:48:39.383-07:00I decided to post a series of entries for the recent Alaskan cruise I went on with family + ES. (Day 01 Photos), got up at 3:30a to make a 6a flight to Vancouver. Flew on Alaska airlines, everything went smoothly. Checked in 3 bags; I usually avoid checking bags, but we needed a lot of stuff for this trip. We got stuck in line at baggage check behind this family with 4 kids, all under 6 - ES http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/08/i-decided-to-post-series-of-entries-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-4997064710078003146Mon, 25 Jun 2007 04:18:00 +00002007-09-03T21:50:38.528-07:00Funny thing I've been meaning to post. It's a normal day and I'm riding the train. Some days I bury myself in some videos from the TED conference on my PDA, but other days I just listen to music or relax. This was about 2 weeks ago - we're riding on the green line west, I'm listening to music, and we get to one of the stops on the train on my way to work. A lady was in the other row of seats http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/06/funny-thing-ive-been-meaning-to-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-4931424159268498659Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:21:00 +00002007-09-03T21:51:22.014-07:00Got a hike in with LP and RH last weekend on Mt. Baldy. There was a bit of snow, but all in all, it was a very pleasant hike. And the weather was great for this time of year - visibility was at least 75 miles at points, and wind was relatively calm. LP really has a great eye with the camera - the pictures he took came out great. Ends up that unfortunately I pulled my left calf and have been http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/02/got-hike-in-with-lp-and-rh-last-weekend.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-171263564652570371Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:19:00 +00002007-02-01T18:13:06.015-08:00It is fitting that I post to this blog on the eve of President Bush's 6th State of the Union. But that's not the topic - the topics at hand are my Christmas tour of the Midwest USA, and following trip abroad to Argentina, South America. We first went to E's parent's in Missouri, and then flying at 8pm on Christmas Day, arrive in Nebraska with 2 hours of Christmas left. Missouri was fun - got http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2007/01/it-is-fitting-that-i-post-to-this-blog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-116495576054984286Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:45:00 +00002007-09-03T21:52:28.044-07:00OK new update to this blog. Quick one. Just got back from Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on the Yucatan Pennninsula. It was a wonderful trip, and ES and I got engaged!!! Photos from the trip are here: Riu Palace Mexico, Playa del Carmen, Mexico. November 2006 The bride and groom are our friends from college, now living in Chicago. They were having their destination wedding here, and I'm so glad http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/11/ok-new-update-to-this-blog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-115783511438482144Sat, 09 Sep 2006 20:37:00 +00002006-09-09T15:41:09.876-07:00PDA is In I picked up my x51v from the USPS today - I'm so glad they're open on Saturday, or else I'm not sure how I'd ever get my packages. I quickly charged the x51v and powered it on to verify it worked and that it was the correct model. It is the 624 MHz Intel XScale processor version. So I think I got a great price, since I believe this version is selling for $500 new. Processor speeds http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/09/pda-is-in-i-picked-up-my-x51v-from.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-115757313763895926Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:04:00 +00002006-09-06T13:05:37.636-07:00RE: Lectures on Axim To determine whether the Axim would indeed be able to play lectures, I posted on 3 PDA forum sites. One, presumably the biggest one for the Dell Axim, had a bunch of favorable responses. Here is the thread: http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=136944http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/09/re-lectures-on-axim-to-determine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-115749767378863255Tue, 05 Sep 2006 23:07:00 +00002006-09-06T13:03:50.133-07:00PDA Update Won the Axim on Ebay: Dell Axim X51v Dell retail price after instant 25% off coupon, and free shipping, was $405. So I got this thing for $75 under retail, shipped. Hopefully the cost savings outweight the "eBay risk."http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/09/pda-update-won-axim-on-ebay-dell-axim.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-115749458589043916Tue, 05 Sep 2006 22:16:00 +00002006-09-05T15:22:06.326-07:00This update has to be split between progress on cellphones, and progress on watching mobile lectures. It just didn't work out to put the two things together. Cell Phone Update I returned the XV6700 and got my money back. I also returned to my original cell phone. I'm talking normal, non-pda cell phones though - seems like no PDA cell phone is practical for me. The phone I have now is just ashttp://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/09/this-update-has-to-be-split-between.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-115736013786354834Mon, 04 Sep 2006 08:44:00 +00002006-09-04T01:55:37.876-07:00Mobile Lecture Update I went biking Saturday. Couldn't bring along the XV6700 Brick - that was inconvenient. So, I decided I just don't like the XV6700 as a phone. It's too cumbersome, and it's tough to dial with it. I need a number pad with real buttons that click under my thumb, and maybe a scrolly wheel. I tested out the Q today at the VZW store; see, I get one exchange in a 15 day periodhttp://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/09/mobile-lecture-update-i-went-biking.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-115714417216850441Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:23:00 +00002006-09-01T14:00:23.113-07:00The Idea I needed to enroll in 2 classes this fall in order to graduate from USC with my MSEE in May 2007. Prior to now, I took only 1 class at a time for the last 6 semesters, and these were huge stressors on my life. So the double school workload prompted me to consider my time management, and get a new angle on how I’d tackle the challenge. My classes are all “online,” meaning they are http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/09/idea-i-needed-to-enroll-in-2-classes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-115696985634635624Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:49:00 +00002007-09-03T21:49:21.334-07:00This ended up being a great hike. I was stressing out about finding a new apartment, changing jobs, and dealing with my summer course, EE450. So this was a weekend of relaxation for me, especially since AC drove up there. I didn't even want to look at a map to see where Yosemite is - thought was, "just take me away to a far away place, and give me time to think!" I forgot my toiletries on thehttp://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/08/yosemite-trip-half-dome1000-ft.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-114940767881544330Sun, 04 Jun 2006 07:41:00 +00002006-06-04T00:54:39.216-07:00Well, I ended up not registering for the MBA this year. There's no reason for me to rush, and with ES going to the Irvine campus, it makes sense for me to just complete my MSEE. That will be done in May 2007. Then I can begin the MBA in Fall of '07. This may be an even better idea because by that time, ES will be moved up to the LA campus for the remaining 2 years of her degree, and I might http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/06/well-i-ended-up-not-registering-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-114663558042531855Wed, 03 May 2006 05:52:00 +00002006-05-02T22:53:06.326-07:00ES and I both got accepted into the MBA program at USC! We both performed quite well on the GMATs after 3 weeks of intense study - it was well earned. Then we both applied at the same time. It was about 6 weeks later that USC got back to us by phone. Actually ES saw on the Marshall School of Business website that the application status was: ACCEPTED. Then we got the phone calls soon after - http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/05/es-and-i-both-got-accepted-into-mba.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5639377.post-114663617039972346Fri, 31 Mar 2006 06:53:00 +00002006-05-02T23:02:50.403-07:00Went to Vegas with DM last weekend! It was his 21st bday, so this was, I hope, the perfect trip for celebration. We were upgraded at Bally's to a RIDICULOUS suite for no increase in cost - they had overbooked the rooms. They called it the townhouse suite. I thought I heard the desk gal say something about townhouse, but I didn't know what we were getting at the time. I asked, "Does it have http://blog.dreamingpoint.com/2006/03/went-to-vegas-with-dm-last-weekend-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andy)