Posted by Ryan
February 19, 2008
Several years ago (3? 4?) I wrote a tiny little Windows application that plays an MP3 file at a specified time of day. That’s all it does. Nothing fancy. You have to select an MP3 file, type the time of day precisely (eg. “6:00 AM”), and check a little checkbox. I’ve opened up to 50 instances of the little app at a time and set them all manually to play some MP3 file at different times to ensure I’ll wake up. It works.
There are many applications out there that do alarms much better than this little thing, but I recently got an email requesting it so I thought I’d share. Heck, notwithstanding all the fancy alarm apps out there I still use this excruciatingly simple thing. The simplest solution isn’t always the best solution, but is often the most used.
Download the self-extracting exe file - 288 KB
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Posted by Ryan
February 18, 2008
I was driving to a dance in Logan, Utah, listening to Artemis Fowl, book 2 in audio book format from audible.com on Friday night. I was in Sardine Canyon, in a section of the canyon containing signs that said “deer migration area next 3 miles.” I didn’t actually see those signs that night though. Speed limit was 60 MPH. Out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 deer. At least I think it was 2 deer. Maybe it was only 1. I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late.
The deer was lying in the middle of the road, not in traffic. It was very dead. I looked at the front of my truck, saw that the radiator was hissing from what looked like a dent. It didn’t seem to be gushing radiator fluid so I took off, hoping I’d get to Logan without the engine overheating. I kept my eye on the temperature indicator and it never moved at all. I got to the dance and got out and looked again in better light. The radiator was still hissing, but nothing was dripping on the ground. I parked and turned off the engine. It was then that all the radiator fluid decided to leak out. I guess something about the circulation in the radiator kept it from leaking while it was running? However it happened, I’m just glad it didn’t leak until I got to where I was going.
I spent all of Saturday morning and most of the afternoon on the phone with State Farm insurance. I have to pay a $100 deductible and get a paid for rental car to boot (time will tell if this will make my rates go up). Logan is a small city and all the auto repair shops were closed. I called the Toyota dealership in Logan and found out what repair shop they use and with the help of a friend’s dad I got it towed there. I just left it in their parking lot and worked everything out over the phone this morning. Finding a rental car was quite difficult. Everywhere was either closed or completely out of cars! I finally found a car at Avis. I drove home in a nice Hyundai Sonata. I took the pictures on Saturday.
Did the dancing make it worth all the trouble? Well, no, but I don’t think any amount of good dancing would make it worth hitting a deer. The dancing was fun.
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Posted by Ryan
February 10, 2008
I found my camera (der, it was a few weeks ago, but I’m still excited about it)! I thought I’d lost it several months ago. I’d given it up for gone. I even let a friend borrow the battery charger, telling her that she could just keep it since I would probably never find my camera. I think I found it two days later. I should have let someone take the battery charger sooner! In commemoration of the camera that was once lost, but is now found: a (fairly boring) photo.
This was taken over at a friend’s house, where I spend the majority of my time working.
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