Teaser Post - more to come

I will be filling more posts with the following subjects:

1.) My project of a worm/composting bin - complete with pictures
2.) My project at an attempt some solar cookers (one will be from a bowl and the other a fish tank) - complete with pictures
3.) My attempt at a CHEAP LCD projector kit with links and pictures.
4.) My attempt at a CHEAP smart board (using project 3).

That should round me out to around middle of August when Little Man will be arriving!

Visit to NY - The place is GREEN GREEN GREEN!

Well, I recently went to upstate NY for about 4 days. I have to say as soon as I got off the plane in Albany and headed out to I-90 I noticed one thing, HOW GREEN IT WAS! It is probably more green there than in SWFL. I guess the plants are like, "Hurry up and grow. Store energy! The winter is coming soon!" Hehe.

Anyway, here are some shots I thought were good. Excuse the greyness in some. It was raining a little that day. These photos range from the Chatham, NY area down to Somers, NY / Danbury, CT (and some places in between). So that is like 4 counties in NY (Columbia, Dutchess, West Chester, and Putnam).

Things about NY that are different than SWFL that I miss from OH:

1. Trees with leaves that fall off
2. Hills
3. Curves

I think this is Route 100 heading to 22? It was a nice drive. I tried to get the lake/reservoir on the left in a picture. Sorry, it didn't work out that way.




Wild black berries in my cousin's back yard.



Queen Ann's lace (also cousin's backyard)



Nice, tall, mature trees. My cousin's property is surrounded by a forest of like 90 acres owned by a non-profit organization. Meaning NOBODY will build as long as that org owns it. Very nice, quiet, and secluded.



Ok, it is not a plant, but it is green. This is a newer Lotus that was parked at the East Fish Kill rest stop on I 84. I am going to ask my buddy that writes Car Test Ride to identify the year and model if he can. The owner was pretty cool. He said he wished the weather would break so he could take the top down.

All and all it was good trip. I got to see family and do some creative problem solving facilitation for work. Cannot beat that for an extended weekend trip.

Lastly, flying now is starting to get bad. You are being treated like cattle. I think I will start to consider taking trains.

Until we blog again!

~Jeffrey

Happy Hour of the week ending on Friday 7-18-2008 850 Restaurant Cape Coral

Well Derwood commented on another one of his happy hour places last week during the Bar Louie post:

"A non-chain happy hour location that I recently enjoyed - 850. It is in the Cape (sorry!) - in fact it is on 850 Lafayette so not far from the bridge. Happy Hour is all the time which makes the draft beers not much over a buck! Plus they have more upscale offerings as far as food goes - more than bar fare of hot wings and stuffed jalapenos"

Well the 850 is in Cape Coral, obviously. What Derwood didn't tell us is what the happy hour actually was! Well Jeffrey saves the day! From their website:

"THE CAPE'S BEST HAPPY HOUR

MONDAY - WEDNESDAY
11AM - 10PM

THURSDAY - SATURDAY
11AM - 2AM

WELL LIQUORS
VODKA - RUM - GIN - TEQUILA - BOURBON - WHISKEY
$2.00

CALL LIQUORS
SMIRNOFF - BACARDI - CAPTAIN - CUTTY SHARK
TANGUERAY - JACK DANIELS - SEAGRAM 7 - JOSE CUERVO
$3.25

SIGNATURE MARTINI'S
11am - 7pm
$4.75

DRAFT BEERS
DOMESTIC
$1.25

IMPORT
$3.00

BOTTLE BEERS
DOMESTIC
$1.25

BUCKET (5)
$6.00

IMPORT
$2.25

BUCKET (5)
$10.00

HOUSE WINE
MERLOT - CAB - CHARD - WHITE ZIN
$4.00 "

Have a Happy Hour and drink and drive responsibly. Remember 275-Taxi locally in SWFL or LeeTran (the bus)!

Frangipanis, Royal Poncianas, Angels Trumpets Oh My!

On my bike ride each morning, I ride along some of the prettiest landscapes and plantscapes. The fragrant frangipani and angels trumpets, and brilliant Royal Poncianas are along the ride. I love living in the subtropics, and that is mostly due to the vegetation. Nothing like seeing green all year round. Pop in some tunes on my Sony Ericsson w580i and away I roll (which is also what I took the pictures on... this is actually a very good phone as I posted about previously).



The community which seems to have some of the prettiest foliage is Cape Harbor. It is a gated community that I live near (Not in mind you, when I moved here they were just building it and I should have bought in at the ground floor, however now, with the recent real estate market slump, you can get some good deals on the condo's there). Not that they need it, but there was their free plug. P.S. Will Stout, during the build of the place, your contractors kill 6 of my mail boxes. Remit payment to my paypal :-).



Some pictures of the ride:







One of my bikes (notice I have a light for at night!)



The pseudo entrance to Cape Harbor (see my shadow?)



Royal Ponciana just starting to bloom! They will be on fire soon, through end of August! Take a drive down the FL Keys and they are every where as well.




Angels Trumpet (man you should smell them. At night they are more fragrant). We like the smell so much, Jessica and I planted one near our bedroom window so we can smell it during the winter.







The frangipani I ride by every day. I actually got a couple of cuttings from a neighbor of this same plant for my yard because it smells that nice.




A last shot of the "street" scape there at Cape Harbor's condos (they are above the shops. I like the concept, but it would almost feels like Disney Land to live there).



That is part of my morning bike ride.



There are other places I pass along the way I will talk about in a future post.



~Jeffrey

Current reading list for June, July, August 2008

Jeffrey's current reading list:
Fantasy and Science Fiction August Issue
Developing the Leader Within You John Maxwell
Total Money Makeover Dave Ramsey
Creativity and Innovation Management Journal

Free WiFi Networks - How do I set one up?

Asking such a question on a blog that you post to might not get a response, however, I have been thinking about this problem a lot lately. How does one go about setting up a free Wifi Network?

I want to set one up for my local community that is self sustaining. How might I do that is a question?After playing with DD-WRT on my Linksys WRT54GS router, I noticed it had the ability to put advertisements to the web browsers connected to it. So a visible means of support could be local business advertisements.

OK, part one is sort of covered (the money). However, what about a co-op like the electric company? People buy into the company that makes some money by advertisements? What other business models could be done? Other services that could be provided by a free wifi network? Wifi Radio stations on it? Free phone services over VOIP?

OK, next big question is how to get the current services provider in the area to allow me to do such a thing? Or how do I get the WiFi routers connected to the internet without going through the ISP?

I have been looking on wikipedia and community networks, but it looks like the concept sort of died (well I can see that, nobody wants to fund free).I had a friend that I lost touch with that went down to Savannah, GA to try and set one up. Maybe someone from there can weigh in and help? Contact me via the blog.

I would like to set one up in either the business district of Cape Coral or Downtown Fort Myers.

There will be more thoughts on this.I need to flesh it out more on paper to diverge and converge my thinking about this.

I think this could be a good thing. Better than just a list of local area "free" hotspots, but a wide coverage or "cloud" of wifi all can connect to (so you can do wifi radio, wifi phones, etc).

Contact me via the blog if you have any interest, knowledge, or support. Thanks!

~Jeffrey

SCAMPER On Over For Some Creative Thinking

Some of you may have heard of the term SCAMPER in regards to creative thinking, while others just think I am talking about what happy little children do when they are playing. Either way, both can have a positive effect. So, some more of my learning from Buffalo State.

SCAMPER is actually an acronym developed from divergent thinking questions by Alex Osborn. Bob Eberle took those questions and categorized them and coined the acronym in his book Scamper: Creative Games and Activities for Imagination Development.

Check out the definition of the acronym:

Substitute
Combine
Adapt
Modify
Put to other uses
Eliminate
Rearrange

One of the best examples of a write up about SCAMPER was in Luciano Passuello's blog.
I loved his examples and the graphics he used. Excellent work. Since he did such an excellent job, I will not go too much in-depth, however, here are questions from each category one could potentially ask:

Substitute: What can you substitute?
Combine: What sort of ensemble could be used or created?
Adapt: What else is like this?
Modify: How about a new twist?
Put to Other Uses: What might other uses be, if changed?
Eliminate: What can do without?
Rearrange: What if you reversed it?

I have actually seen SCAMPER used to help develop a board game in relatively short time with a group of 6 people. It was, in a word, amazing. Let me know how this works out for you and let Luciano know what you think of his resource.

Happy Creativity!

~Jeffrey

Happy Hour of the week ending on Friday 7-11-2008 Bar Louie in Edison Mall

This is an attempt to guilt my friend Deron into sharing his plethora of Happy Hours and Drink Specials in the greater South West Florida area (includes Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, South Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers Beach, Estero, Naples, etc... if we missed anyone, let us know).

Anyway! Deron's liver has traversed all over this great area of ours, testing, sampling (and sometimes being punished) many great establishments.

That said, I have to get more out his mind, but one he has told me about is Bar Louie in Edison Mall. They have this $1 burger night on Tuesdays (granted extras like cheese are an extra cost). I think as well the beers (it is all about the drinks!) are $2 drafts for anything from 4-7PM (I think that is each night too). Appetizers are buy one get one free. Mind you, Bar Louie's drafts are high end, many imported and micro brews. Their selection rotates monthly I am told.

Have a Happy Hour and drink and drive responsibly. Remember 275-Taxi locally in SWFL or LeeTran (the bus)!

Comment please, so Deron (or Derwood) will share his knowledge with the rest of us!

DERWOOD, IT'S ALMOST YOUR BIRTHDAY, DERWOOD, IT'S ALMOST YOUR BIRTHDAY, DERWOOD...

Thoughts on the United States current oil woes - what it really is.

I have been reading several articles lately about oil protests locally and a reporter using the bus here in Lee County Florida in the News Press.

I have been working from home for 8 years now, saving 10's of 1000's in costs from fuel, maintenance, insurance, plus the less stress. Most people are not that lucky. However, we have gone further and further out into the suburbs. People work 20-30-40 miles from their homes.

It will not "shrink back" quickly (unless of course there is a shock). After reading about people griping about the "inconvenience" of the bus, I realized it was not the Presidential pick, the foreign Devils with the oil, drilling off shore, drilling in the US, the building nuclear power plants as solutions or the problems.

I realized what the problem and the solution actually is. It is our lifestyle. We have gotten to the point of gluttony. Tone it down and you won't need the oil. Don't be so time sensitive to crap. Don't buy shit you don't need and you won't have to work 40 miles away from your home to get the higher pay. Also, get a good attitude. It is fear of change that is rallying people, not the cost of oil.

Key West for me over the years

The end of the line, the proverbial end of the "rainbow", mile marker 0, living and dying in 3/4 time, making enough money to buy miami but pissing it away so fast, low key friday, she told me no Jeff, we have to go home RIGHT NOW, sign and lamppost walking pinball, the duval crawl, green parrot and Appletons, no mangrove tours, Jeff the tour guide, the stripper owing Jessica money, getting pinched, drinking with bums, spending a month there, buying the WRONG T-shirt, finally figuring what it is all about.

From Farts to Fuel

Ok, this is sort of a prequel to the Soy bean bio diesel post. What really got me thinking about beans is their ability to produce methane in people (well at least me, and a lot of methane). I was like if I can produce something that can be a fuel, why couldn't it be applied to a fuel source outside the body?

That said I did some searches on how beans are turned into gas in the body. Turns out, it is not us that cause the lighter than air experience, but rather a lack of certain enzyme in our small intestine that would break down the complex sugars in beans. Since we lack that enzyme, the complex sugars pass into our large intestine and the bacteria there feast! The by-product is methane. So if a positive comes out of this conversation, it is we are not to be blamed for farts, but rather we are collecting billions of bacteria's farts. :) I got this info from Discovery.com's Skinny on why beans give you gas.

Read in there too about how Beano works. It adds the enzyme back in that you need to break the sugars down (incidentally it is made from mold... I wonder if certain people are allergic to Beano for that reason). Oh, a side thought about Beano and diabetics. I wonder if taking Beano when eating beans, would it raise your sugar, because you now have that enzyme that will break down the complex sugars into something your body can use (where as before it just "passed through").

So, that said, why not process the beans with acids and the enzymes to produce the complex sugars and then run it through that particular bacteria? It would be cleaner in results than bio diesel when burned (methane is about as non-polluting as they come for gases).

You could also breed bacteria that ate less of the sugars and produced more methane (increasing energy yield) as well as some that don't add any "sulfur" to the gas (so we don't get fart smelling cars or power plants). Maybe this is how biomass works? I think that is heat, but I am unsure... still researching.

Some farts, I mean fuel for thought.

Different in the morning light - breath in breath out move on

I have to say, last night I felt like there was a accumulation of male bovine kaka (or bullsh!t) in my life at that point. I griped, I moaned, I bitched. Then I thought, "breath in, breath out, move on" (Jimmy Buffett song reference from Bama Breeze album).

Anyway, after I decided that, I went to bed, read a little fun reading (Fantasy and Science Fiction's latest magazine issue) I drifted to sleep. Seems that when you let stuff go that is not really important, the universe provides.

Well, this morning in the light gray light, before the brilliant ball of fire we call the southwest Florida sun comes fully out, all my worries had taken care of themselves. Mind you I don't "let stuff go" that are in my control, but I have started to learn to not let things beyond my control not bother me as much.

As the song goes, "I bought a cheap watch from the crazy man, floating down canal. It doesn't use numbers or moving hands, it always just says now. Now some of you are thinking I have been had, but this watch is never wrong. 'If you should have trouble', the warranty said, 'breath in, breath out, move on'" (Jimmy Buffett).

~Jeffrey

The Studio's of Key West

In browsing people that hit my blog (and it is not many yet), I came across one that was a mail feed that intrigued me. I know, using this technology is kind of lurking, but I wanted to comment on their organization. The address was to The Studio's of Key West or www.tswk.org a non-profit organization that help artists show case their works by providing a creative climate for them to work (remember your 4 Creative P's - Press!). They also are giving back to the community through their creative kids program and their other programs and events.

After looking at what these people do, I was happy I saw them looking at my blog. It might have been a fluke from a google search, but it connected me to them (that is what the web 2.0 is about, connecting people and having them do something... web deux or web DO!).

Since this year we are skipping our yearly jaunt to the keys, which is usually Big Pine with jaunts to KW and/or one or 2 days on that magical island via the ferry from FMB). This is due to the birth of our little man, which I am ecstatic about. That said, I am not going to get to check their campus out. Or as they call it the mango tree house (incidentally was an old armory, great to see new creative life from something like that).

I really thought it was creative, the Art-O-Matic machines.

These are retrofitted and redone cigarette machines that dispense small original art works. A great new life for something that has had less then stellar former uses.


I could go on and on about this organization. I will say this. Their website is done quite well, artistically and functionally. A synergy of form and function. Kudo's on that.

If anyone is interested in joining, you can via here. I think I will once I eventually move to the Keys ("some day I will").....


~Jeffrey

The 4P's of creativity

This is going to be quick post, but I will follow up later on it.

Some of you have heard of the 4 P's of marketing (Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion).

Well there are 4 P's to Creativity as well:

1.) Person - everyone is creative, but some have more innate ability than others
2.) Product - this is the product you are working on. Some products are more creative than others
3.) Process - there is a process for being creative, a part of which is known as CPS (creative problem solving). The crux of this is divergent and convergent thinking. Bringing it out there to get new, wild and crazy ideas and bringing it home to find the ideas or cluster that fit your problem (there is much much much more than this which I will post a blog about later).

The last one "surrounds" the other 3 and is
4.) Press - this is climate. If you work in a place that stifles creativity, you are being "pressed" out of your creative state.

(Attributed to Mel Rhodes I believe and quote from him "... the definitions form four strands. Each strand has a unique identity academically, but only in unit do the four strands operate functionally." Mel Rhodes 1961).

All 4 of these pieces are needed to be truly creative. Also, you can be creative and not be revolutionary.. iterative innovation is creative!

Better than gold

OK, some of you know that I live in paradise, um SW FL. However, I am actually located very close to Fort Myers, FL (Cape Coral to be exact). What many newcomers don't know, is FM was the home to many training mission for WWII flying aces.

As some things are bound to go awry, planes crash, and unfortunately lives can be lost. However, sometimes, such tragedies can yield something positive. Such as this really cool story on the New Press . The plane found by TBT@J might alleviate some old misconceptions from the Navy.

Photos are from the New Press:



(Incidentally, this plane was a B26)

Am I one for Key West? Hell Yeah! And here is why

Interesting question I have thought about many times. I once told a colleague's wife that I wanted to move to Key West. She laughed and said "you are not interesting enough".

Huh? I was taken back. Why was I not interesting enough? I thought I was neat person with a lot of things to say. When I started to look at myself then, I decided maybe I was just too average.

Since then I attempted to do all these fun and crazy things. To add more "color" to my personality and "bag of tricks". I got multiple degrees. I tried to have cool experiences and talk to cool people. I went on cool trips, I learned to "attempt" to play music, I tried starting businesses, started writing blogs and books and stories. I created art. In short a lot of things that I "thought" would make me more interesting.

After awhile, I started to notice something. It was not the experiences that made one interesting. It was how they carried themselves. Not the places they had been or the things they had done or seen. It was something in the way they thought.

From then I vowed to think differently. To look at the world with a different eye. To stop and make sure it was making sense to me as well as make sure I made my own world the way I wanted to live it. Not b/c I thought it made me interesting, or it was the way others thought I should be. Before you can change your situation, you need to change yourself.

That is what Key West is really about for me. The way people carry themselves and make their world the way they want it. Maybe it is the hippy influence? Maybe the gays? Maybe the cuban immigrants? The tropical waters? The alignment of the compass around it? Who knows.

For now, I must go out side and watch the rain.

New Mouth to sing with very soon

Well, I have been reluctant to tell this on the internet, but we will have a little man very soon to be singing a new tune with. He will arrive in around 6 more weeks! I cannot wait!

Bio Diesel - not what you think

Bio Diesel - what comes to mind? Cooking oil strained through filters? Funny thing is, once that becomes a commodity, it will go up of course. But in the mean time, use the french fry smelling oily goodness.

Lets talk about most cooking oil conversions. Most cooking oil is canola or corn. These are renewable and friendly, but a lot of time those crops are grown using PETROLEUM based fertilizers. Alternatives? Well the humble pig nut, or soy bean . Why?

Soy beans (and peanuts) have a higher content of energy than canola. However, the soy bean will replenish the soils without the need for fertilizers due to the bacteria in the root nodes. What could be planted in the areas of the midwest that just flooded? Well soy BEANS!
Check out this from Agrifood of Australia

Granted I heard the argument that this will cause food shortages. Um, are farmers still getting government subsidizes to dump grain, rice, or wheat? Anyway.... I am not going down that rabbit hole. I will however look at how the average person can extract from soybeans (where to get them in bulk as well) and how much it will cost or save.

Coming up soon is my attempts at getting my Solar panels paid for and installed on the old homestead and converting some panels for use on the lappy.

Happy 4th of July!

All,

Happy Fourth of July! The United States of America's Independence Day!

Enjoy yourself and don't forget all that made this day possible and continued tradition.

Red, White and Boom (s) - 4th of July Fireworks

Ok, when I lived in Fairfield, Ohio, every year we had a fireworks celebration called "Red, White, and BOOM". I thought it was a pretty clever name. (Just incidently, I have to mention Jungle Jim's Grocery, the most fantastic market in North America, which is incidently located in Fairfield and not far from my old condo).

Well fast forward. Here I am living in Cape Coral about to attend their 4th of July fireworks. What is the name? Red, White, and Boom! Ironic huh?

I did a google search for Red, White, and Boom and got many many hits. I guess others thought the name was nifty. I am surprised no one has copyrighted or trademarked it (probably have in some fashion).

It would be interesting to see how many cities call their firework display "Red, White, and Boom!". Please comment if you have something with the same or similar name.

More about Jonathan Coulton (Code Monkey's song writer)

As I sent around what I thought was new find, my friend sent me the following email that I had to share:

"My kids can sing the main chorus of the song. Unfortunately, my son
concludes with "I love you, whores!" from the opening credits. I
probably shouldn't let him watch it anymore.

Jonathan Coulton is a fun songwriter. A lot of his more popular works
were done with World of Warcraft animation on YouTube. My kids love the
Spooky Doll and Your Brains videos. He also wrote the end credit song
for Portal. His folkish remake on Baby Got Back rockorz!"

Interesting this guy is that prolific. I find it fantastic that you can make a living being a song writer essentially for video games. Well everyone has their niche! Kudos to Mr. Coulton.

Another Bobism

My buddy Bob has some of the most profound sense of humor. Think of the dry perverse humor of a Brit, combined with the cynism of a reformed Catholic (however Bob is very devoted to his faith and the Catholic church, no matter how much he pokes fun at them). I really enjoy Bob's company, but over the last few years, other than emails, I have not seen much of him. Anyway, here are a few recent "Bobism". I will link this post to Bob in an email. If you like them, comment and maybe we can get Bobo to do a blog of his own (and his humor and wit, I cannot match)!

"I take the scenic route home at night...
it makes for a pleasant drive...
it helps not to masturbate at the wheel...
I might not end up alive!"

"My new dishwasher is on the fritz,
and all the dishes are in the sink...
I'm having erections during Mass;
I think I need a drink!"

"I hope you enjoy the 4th. If you drink a 5th on the 4th, you can't go forth on the 5th!"

Code Monkey!

Something fun (and slightly cynical) this week.

I have spent so many years as a code monkey for large corporations this appealed to me. I have also seen the pining for the hot receptionist as well from colleagues (and myself when I was a co-op). Check out the song and all the video's on YouTube based on the song.

The MP3: (on Jonathan Coulton's blog : Jonathan Coulton)

A video from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYodWEKCuGg

Check out the other video's listed, there is a flavor for everyone.