Category: Observations Page 44 of 90

Spy Dead Drop

On August 2, 2014

Backstory: The International Spy Museum in DC is giving away tickets to celebrate its 12th anniversary. I love a good game, especially when prizes are involved so I was excited to play along. I work a few blocks from the Spy Museum so I am in the right part of town to chase down their clues as soon as they were announced.

They are doing this spy style and leaving dead drops around the city. They are not being very spy-like by announcing the locations on Twitter. I have been on the hunt since Monday when I learned about it. Tuesday, I tracked the spy to the carousel on the National Mall but was too late. Wednesday’s drop was too far away from work, in the Congressional Cemetery so I missed it. Thursday was at Shake Shack next to the museum. Despite being there minutes later, it too was gone. Friday’s was at the National Portrait Museum near the portrait of George Washington. I found out about it as I was walking along the National Mall after work on my way to the Metro Center Metro.

When the Tweet came out, I was notified by text message and I raced back to the Portrait Gallery. I was determined to find it first, yet sure someone else would best me to it. If not another Agent, then a visitor at the museum. Upon arriving, I wasted no time and asked the woman at the front desk where the portrait of George Washington was.

Second floor second room on the right.

So I raced up the stairs. Turning the corner, I saw the portrait and braced myself for disappointment.
But today would not be a repeat of yesterday. It is a new day and 25 minutes after the dead drop was left, I retrieved it.

Thank you @IntlSpyMuseum!!! I thought for sure they'd be gone. And now they are. 😀 pic.twitter.com/o2K0ElydUC— Carl T. Holscher (@peroty) July 25, 2014

Delighted, I stuffed the envelope into my bag, making sure to carefully close it to secure the prize. I then casually made my way to the Metro and made my way home. On the way, I texted my wife I DID IT!!!!!!! I was so excited to have made it to the dead drop in time. As I entered the room and claimed the tickets, an older couple was looking at me like I was nuts.

The man said, “Are you part of a game or something?” I said, “Yes. The Spy Museum is doing a promotion where they drop tickets randomly around the city and announce the location on Twitter.” He said, “We were wondering, we saw someone put it there but wasn’t sure what it was.”

I silently thanked him for not picking up the envelope before I arrived. In the back of my head, I also wondered if he was with the Spy Museum and was placed there to watch over the tickets. But maybe I’m paranoid.

Or maybe I’m not.

The More of Social Media

By Carl

On July 30, 2014

In Observations

Social Media is all about more.

Tumblr adds posts to my Dashboard in trying to get me to follow more blogs.

Twitter adds paid advertisements in trying to sell me things.

Facebook is one giant ad.

All of these services constantly recommend people they feel I’d enjoy following.

What if there was a site that gave you less? What about instead of recommending new people to follow or ads to buy from offered you a quieter experience?

Have you been following a person for years and never liking or sharing anything they post. What if the site asked you why you still followed them?

What about an RSS feed that you skip or skimmed through everyday? What if your RSS reader tracked your reading time versus post length. Then asked if you still wanted to read it.

I don’t want my media to ask me about new things. The purpose is not to replace what I read now with other things. I don’t want a paid-for promotion system. I don’t want the network to guess who I’d also like to follow.

I use Tiny Tiny RSS for my RSS reading. I host it on my server. I like it for a number of reasons, but one of them is it shows me inactive and troublesome feeds.

I can see who has not written in weeks or even years and remove those feeds. I can see what feeds are showing errors. Then I can visit the site and see if the feed has changed. Or if the site is gone, remove it.

It’s a simple feature but it goes a little way towards removing the cruft of social media and helping me trim down my lists.

Remove not replace is my mantra.

Ducks

By Carl

On July 25, 2014

In Observations

Since I’ve started eating better, the second phase to Operation Be Less Fat is exercise. All this week I have taken walks around the National Mall and Capitol Building. Working in DC does have its advantages for lunch-time strolls around the city. The constant influx of tourists makes for superb people-watching.

I’ve been taking pictures as I walked because it’s relaxing. It’s a Friday in the summer. Enjoy some ducks.

Remove Windows 8 Wireless Profiles an easier way

By Carl

On July 24, 2014

In Observations

This morning a friend Tweeted in horror that managing wireless profiles in Windows 8 required using the Command Line. Windows had decided to hand on to a wireless network so she couldn’t connect to a new access point.

Are you shitting me, Windows 8? I have to remove wireless profiles via COMMAND LINE???? Sweet Thor's nipples, I hate this operating system.— Reesa Herberth (@reesah) July 24, 2014

I was shocked this was the method prescribed by Microsoft so I had to look. And she is right.

Some tasks, such as deleting a profile, must be done at the command
prompt. To do these tasks, open Command Prompt, and then type the
appropriate command from the following table.

— Manage wireless network profiles – Windows Help

At the command prompt you need to type netsh wlan delete profile name=”ProfileName”. This is how you can remove a wireless profile in Windows 8. There had to be a better way.

And there is.

Up to Windows 7, previously connected wireless networks were saved and
viewable via the Preferred Wireless Network List, but this feature seems
to have been removed in Windows 8. Microsoft probably removed it as
they have added a supposedly smart feature, that handles wireless
profiles by how much you connect to it.
— WiFi Profile Manager 8: View Preferred Wireless Network Profiles in Windows 8

Wifi Profile Manager 8 is a freeware application released Lee Whittington for The Windows Club.

The author notes some people have had success with the application while others have not. But if the command line scares you or if you think it’s absurd to have to use it to do something that was very easy in Windows 7, try it out.

The Fresh 20

By Carl

On July 23, 2014

In Observations

Inspired by Conor McClure’s post about the Whole 30, I am sharing what my wife and I are doing.

In an ongoing quest to eat like adults, we tried Blue Apron. The food was good and fresh. The meals were delicious and we’ve saved many of the recipes we prepared.

But eventually we stopped making the food. While they ship everything you need (short of salt and pepper) in the box, there is a lot of chopping and slicing.

The meals were delicious but rarely had enough leftover for lunches the next day. This is the second part of the healthy eating struggle.

Because of this, paired with issues retrieving packages at the condo we rent, we gave up on them. This is not a failing of them. But a failing in ourselves.

We both work full-time. We’d rather collapse on the couch and not cook for hours in the kitchen. But we also don’t want to order pizza every night either.

Enter The Fresh 20

The Fresh 20 is built around a week of meals where you shop for 20 ingredients (which they say can take about 20 minutes). The meals are listed with easy-to-follow recipes. Each of the week’s meals has a list of ingredients with portions listed. Though the very best part is the shopping list they offer.

Last night, we went to the grocery store and found all 20 ingredients. And we don’t shop at a fancy grocery store. We often struggle to find certain common herbs. But we routinely find everything we need with little effort. These aren’t gourmet ingredients we’d have to shop around to find.

There is minimal prep work, usually chopping or marinating. This is all spelled out for the five meals on the sheet with the meals listed so there are no surprises.

We use the Classic menu and I’ve been very happy with the variety of meals each week. There are also gluten-free, vegetarian, dairy-free and kosher meal plans. They also have plans for lunch and single people.

We have been doing this for about three weeks and every meal has been great. Their recipes feed a family of four, which is perfect for the two of us. This gives us dinner and lunch the next day.

Three months of The Fresh 20 will only run you $18. The annual plan is $54. Once you sign up, you’ll not only have access to a new meal plan every week, you’ll also be able to see their entire archive of meal plans. We are eating a plan from early June this week.

To be clear, they do not send you any food. They make simple, easy to follow (and shop for) meal plans. While it’s not easier than ordering pizza, it’s cheaper and more satisfying. I highly recommend trying it out. You can sign up for a free meal plan on their website. And when you fall in love with it, I know you’ll sign up and eat like a healthier adult.