Back in action

After a short sabbatical from blogging, I am finally ready to start writing again.  It’s been a rainy and busy winter here.  The weather is finally beginning to change with the promise of many spring/summer days ahead.  Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to decide exactly what to do with my blog and what direction I should take. I’ve been struggling with trying to find a way to blog about technology and still maintain a personal side to the blog.  I’m not sure I’ve figured this out but think I can safely mix the two topics here.

Many of you have been wondering what I’ve been doing during my “free time”.  Well, I’ve been busy working with some Santa Cruz Geeks and a few select others to launch the 12seconds.tv website.  You can read more about 12seconds.tv by going to the website or reading our blog.   It’s been a fun process to see the site go from idea to implementation and will blog more about my experiences working on it.  The framework for this site is the Drupal CMS handling user authentication, friend invites, private beta, and content.  I’ve implemented several Drupal websites before and this process has only added to my Drupal experience.  I know many struggle with the steep learning curve for Drupal, but once you get past that things start to fall in place quite nicely.

My goals for this blog in the near future are:

1. Convert site to Drupal 6.x from WordPress 2.x
2. Update frequently at least 2 or 3 times a week
3. Balance personal commentary with technology information
4. Update the design

To accomplish goal number one, I will most likely be working on upgrading a Drupal 5.x module to import from WordPress 2.x to Drupal 6.x.  This will not be an easy undertaking, but will allow me to contribute back to the Drupal community and gain some experience with upgrading modules. I’m looking forward to writing again and keeping everyone updated on what’s going on.  If you want an invitation to 12seconds.tv, just send me your email.

For those that are curious, here’s an example of a 12second video.  I’m having sound issues on my Mac, but this will give you a general idea.  Once I fix the sound issues, I will post a new 12second video.  Also, you can check out what others are recording by going to http://12seconds.tv/channel. 

How long is 12seconds? take2 on 12seconds.tv

It had to happen!

Being an east coast transplant to the SF Bay Area, you knew it was only a matter of time. Apparently, there was one other minor one when I was back east in July. I complained about not being here for it. Now, I realize I really wasn’t missing anything and am probably better off not being here when it happens.

In case you haven’t guessed, here is what happened.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/36.38.-123.-121.php

It was (at least what I consider) minor (here) except that there was obvious building/ground shaking. I have no idea how long it lasted maybe 30 seconds or so? It felt longer. I paused Tivo, sat in the chair and waited to see if it would stop or worsent. It stopped.

Here are the top ten thoughts that went through my head at the time:

1. Am I going to fall in the ocean? I do live only about 500 feet from there. Should I put on a wetsuit?
2. Would the shaking please stop, so I can finish watching “The View”
3. What happens if my Balcony falls off?
4. What if I was standing on my balcony and it Falls off? What would I grab on to?
5. Am I better off living on the third floor? the first floor? or sandwiched in the middle?
6. We had a thunderstorm yesterday, I think their related.
7. Why isn’t Mindi’s phone ringing when I call?
8. Why don’t my East Coast friends answer the phone even if it’s after 11 PM there. Don’t know they know this is important?
9. After finding out the epicenter was 47.5 miles away, how long did it take to for it to travel here?
10. Is this like a snow-storm back east and we don’t have to go to work or school tomorrow?

In the past 20 or so minutes, I have determined that it was a practice run. It was just enough to alert me to the fact that there could be a bigger one and one should be prepared. So from now on, as soon as I walk in the door, I’m putting on my wetsuit. Wait, I don’t even have a wetsuit. I’ll have to add that to the list.

The other thing it did was spark my interest in real-time reporting of Earthquake data. I was able to answer some quick questions, key in my zip code, and “Rate the Quake”. Way cool if you ask me. I love instant feedback to validate that what I felt was what I felt. If only I had Twitterific running, I might have known sooner.

This goes back to a conversation Rob and I had in the office last week about the Southern California fires and emergency communication/distribution of news. It’s something I’ve always been interested in. How does recent technology enhance emergency communication channels. What are the communication channels? What happens when the outages are so great that no communication goes through?

Ok, I’m going back to watching “The View” now, and yes, I watch “The View”.

Bank Of America - What’s up with this?

As many of you know I have a love/hate relationship with Bank Of America.  I love it when there is money in my bank account and hate it when there is none.  Even better, I hate it when there is negative money.  Someone should figure out how to create an economy based on this negative money.  Oh wait, the big banks already do that by charging overdraft fees.

I went to login to my online banking the other day and found that the BOA SSL Certificate had expired.  Should it concern me that Bank Of America didn’t renew their certificate in time?  Normally, I wouldn’t be concerned.  However, two additional things have come up that make me wonder just how they manage to keep customers.

I lost my ATM card on 8/31, the day that Stephen arrived for a visit.  Not a big deal I tell myself because there was a time before ATM Cards right?  I remember when we got our first ATM machine during my senior year of college.  That was way cool.  Ok, so I finally determine that it is indeed lost and not hiding in my apartment somewhere. Although, I still suspect it is hiding from me.  I call and they are going to send me a replacement that should be here in less than 10 days.  That’s cool as they are usually pretty fast at processing those type of requests.  The customer service agent advised me that I could go into the bank and get a temporary card if I needed one until the replacement arrive.  I wait.  I wait. I finally decided that I can’t wait any longer and go into the branch.  I wait.  I wait.  About 45 minutes later a Customer Service person is available and I explain my situation.  She informs that they can’t do in-state ATM cards in CA.  She could help me with an out-of-state ATM Card though.  I’m confused at this point.  When I was dealing with a check-hold, they couldn’t touch my account because it was out of state.   I left and the ATM Card arrived the next day.  Cool!

Oh wait, not so cool.  You see I closed my DC account way before I ordered a replacement ATM card.  This new card has my picture on it which my DC account has, but not my CA Account.  Also the number is very close to the number on my DC account.  I suspect that this card is for my Closed Account.  I call the activation number and my card can’t be activated over the phone.  The automated “put-me-in-a-bad-mood” guy explains that I can go to ATM and perform a transaction to activate my card.

I go to the machine, and the machine tells me I can’t use this card there.  Just as I thought.  I call BOA customer service on Sunday night around 6PM PT.  Oh, wait customer service goes home at 3PM PT on Sundays.  I tell myself no big deal, I’ll just call on Monday.  People existed before ATM Cards right?  I call, and actually spoke to a very nice young lady who looked up the card number and confirmed that they “did indeed issue me a replacement ATM card for a closed account”.  She informed that a new card was sent out on 9/13.  I wait again.  Hopefully, the card will be here soon.

So, it concerns me that:

1. BOA did not renew their SSL Certificate in time.
2. BOA does not know the rules by state on who can issue temporary cards.  Although, looking back the CSR was probably in my DC account, and I probably could have gone to DC to get a new replacement card for my closed account.
3. BOA can not issue a temporary card and they issued a card for a closed account.

One of these days, I will move on to a smaller bank and establish a personal relationship.  Until then, I’m just going to have to get along with “put-me-in-a-bad-mood” automated guy.

Twitter Updates for 2007-08-14

• nailed it. #
• made it home in < 30 minutes….now I’m getting excited about bedtime #
• battery operated -> candy -> furniture #
• awake, a little sore, on my way in. #
• 20 minutes door-to-door with a few stops. Not bad. #
• @rob - stop workign. #