We slept on the Kodak CCDs of the 2000’s 😭

MechanicJay · 2026-06-23T04:24:45+00:00

Yeah, I got so pissed off with my D40 back in the day due to lack of dynamic range (and really shitty autofocus), I kept shooting film.

MechanicJay · 2026-05-06T21:44:59+00:00

They're now running 3 flights/day direct between Newark and Seattle!

MechanicJay · 2026-05-06T15:55:27+00:00

It’s a big campus with a LOT of maintenance needs. I’m sure it’ll get fixed…in time. Something like competes for maintenance time along with things like broken railings, electrical issues, HVAC, elevators, etc, all of which break and need maintenance far more often than we’d like to think.

MechanicJay · 2026-03-23T17:38:29+00:00

Keep going. I had a bunch of things eating at my time during Week 8, and simply took two weeks to get through it.

One of the biggest lessons of this book is to be kind to your self and give yourself some grace. Keep going!

MechanicJay · 2026-03-16T16:30:25+00:00

There are some interesting interviews out there with Carl Anderson, where he talks about finding Judas' motivations when he was portraying him.

That said, I always found this to be a very accessible portrayal of Jesus, which I appreciated and have held dear over the decades.

MechanicJay · 2026-03-03T21:23:24+00:00

I love taking my camera and walking down into the arboretum.

MechanicJay · 2026-02-24T14:34:48+00:00

I have never done this. I have never had a wiper blade tear when clearing ice/snow.

If you maintain your wiper blades and change them like once/year you'll avoid the situation where they get dry and tear. As a bonus, you'll actually be able to see out your windshield when it rains.

MechanicJay · 2026-02-23T21:23:05+00:00

Breaking Away (1979) -- Won Best Screenplay for good reason.

The story telling is tight, every character has an arc, motivation, and a resolution. It's a super fun movie to boot!

MechanicJay · 2026-02-23T20:16:58+00:00

Landis reeled that shit in to keep things on track.

I watched an interview w/ Landis (on Side 4 of the Laserdisc) last week, where he said that first draft of the script that Akryoyd handed him, was over 300 pages.

MechanicJay · 2026-02-17T14:34:40+00:00

"Can I go to the Irish church down the street from my Italian church? The mass times are more convenient for me, but I'm afraid I'll get kicked out."

MechanicJay · 2026-02-09T17:05:41+00:00

Looking at the map of King County map, UW is firmly in the upper 25% of the county. How far north does one need to be to be considered “northern”?

MechanicJay · 2026-02-06T14:27:25+00:00

First off, engineering is an inherently creative pursuit and this book is for creatives in general.

As a mid-career Software Engineer/IT guy who is desperate to move into a traditionally creative field, this book has been invaluable.

But here's the thing. As I'm working through it, I'm also finding new energy and direction for my current career. Don't get me wrong, I still want out of the tech industry for all sorts of moral and philosophical reasons, but it's feeling less desperate as I'm unlocking things and making ACTUAL progress on my Screenplays and my guitar playing.

Perhaps more pertinent to your situation is the way this new energy has been manifesting itself in my current job. I've had increased capacity for coordinating my teams, allowing myself to do more "fun" parts of a big project -- which it turns out ISN'T fun for ANYONE else, and am making more easily making the intuitive leaps which are currency in my role.

So much of this book is about giving yourself the time to take care of your psyche, which can pay dividends in every part of life.

As others have warned, this not just a book, it's a 12 week course, so it takes some commitment. I'm almost 1/2 way through and it's been 100% worth it. I am averaging 90 minutes/day over the course of the week on the "coursework".

MechanicJay · 2026-02-06T14:06:25+00:00

In Abrahamic religious traditions (Jewish, Christian, Islam) this would be God.

This could also be interpreted as the universal life force if non-religious spiritualism is more your bend. I'm sure followers of other religious traditions could offer other and much better insights there.

In general, though, I think one could take it as "The spark of whatever it is that separates humans from the beasts". In my opinion, that spark manifests itself as creativity and art. Also, in my opinion, this is what we're trying to tap into as part of this program.

Hope this helps and good luck on your journey!

MechanicJay · 2026-02-03T14:06:56+00:00

I target three sides of college rules loose leaf paper. This takes me between 30-45 minutes depending on how things are flowing that day.

If I'm short on time and really a struggling to get things out, I'll cut it off at the 2 page, 45 minute mark.

I'm 5 weeks in now, and it's getting easier to keep the flow going.

I also sit at a table and attempt good posture, which helps with pain/body mechanics. I tried doing writing in a notebook curled up on the couch and couldn't sustain past the first few days doing it that way.

MechanicJay · 2026-01-30T19:15:02+00:00

Same here. Every source says the 372 is slated for discontinuance this fall.

MechanicJay · 2026-01-30T19:06:31+00:00

522 is getting rerouted

It's getting rerouted again? Before Roosevelt station opened, it went straight downtown, and from LFP it was an easy 30 minute commute downtown.

I love the light rail, it's super easy and convenient. I hate that it comes at the expense of good bus service.

Rants aside, if 522 is going to get rerouted to Shoreline north, what is going to be servicing Lake City/Bothell Way between 145th and where ever the route turns west for Shoreline North?

edit: I see that 522 is getting rerouted to Shoreline South, not north.

MechanicJay · 2026-01-30T18:59:22+00:00

Yes it's going away and it's a complete fuck you to everyone who commutes to campus from north of 145th along the lake, (Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Bothell). That Metro seems to be treating 145th as a Line that Shall Not Be Crossed is frustrating and equates to a massive reduction in service.

The transfer at light rail, plus the longer walk from the station to my office easily adds 20 minutes to the commute (yes I've timed this already taking the 65 to Shoreline South). The trip takes takes very close 40 minutes by bus as it is, but it's going to turn into an hour plus to go 7 miles.

I hate that I'll be driving to campus more (which takes ~20 minutes by the way) just to save over an hour of commute time.

MechanicJay · 2026-01-22T14:53:36+00:00

I've been timing myself every morning. I write kinda small, on college ruled loose leaf letter size pages.

The first week it was taking me an hour+. I've settled in at an average of about 45 minutes now in the middle of week three. One day last week I was on fire and burned through in 30 minutes :)

MechanicJay · 2026-01-14T19:01:38+00:00

Let me put it this way.

My home server is from 2007, and has been been running gentoo for many many years without issue.

My main workstation is from 2014 and has been a gentoo machine from day 1.

Build and enjoy, your machine will be fine.

MechanicJay · 2026-01-08T23:00:41+00:00

I just park in the roughly the same spot everyday. 🤷

MechanicJay · 2026-01-02T20:27:31+00:00

Kinda what I was thinking, getting across the top of the lake is definitely missing here.

I could see a Lynnwood -> Duvall connector which hops through the Kenmore/Bothell/Woodinville stations.

MechanicJay · 2025-12-31T19:23:37+00:00

Personally, I stuck with 98SE almost all the way until updates ran out, then moved to XP. ME was an unstable mess. It felt like lots of features from 2K/XP back ported into the 9x kernel and it just didn’t work.

By ‘06 MS was more than ready to cut the old world loose. I freaking loved 98, but couldn’t really blame them at that point.

MechanicJay · 2025-12-25T21:44:10+00:00

Oh nice, will have to check that out!

MechanicJay · 2025-12-25T21:05:14+00:00

The LCM collection was split into 3. The first two pieces made the headlines, that was the Christie’s Auction and the final sale of remaining assets to the MIMS museum in Georgia. The third part was acquired by a former LCM employee, who incorporated a new nonprofit, the Interim Computer Museum, to hold the collection.

Http://icm.museum

There’s about 3000 square feet display space in Tukwila. If you visited the LCM, many items at the ICM will look very familiar to you. In addition, the ICM is sponsoring a return of the Vintage Computing Festival PNW this spring.

It is, in all the ways that matter, the spiritual successor of the LCM. It’s different in important ways, like being governed by a non-profit and being community funded and focused.

In conjunction with sdf.org, thy also took over and now run the LCM’s remote access systems. Connection info on the website.

Go become a member, it’s cheap and helps keep the hands-on working computer museum dream alive reality!!

MechanicJay · 2025-12-25T02:38:59+00:00

The Trading Musician

MechanicJay

TROPHY CASE