Of media PCs, old remotes and Linux

This post will probably be horribly boring for the non-geeks in the audience (which might be everybody...), so I'll apologize to everybody in advance...

It has been a desire of mine for a bit to build up a media/entertainment PC and integrate that into our entertainment center. Partly because I get TIVO-like functionality, partly to allow playing the music that we've downloaded (and isn't on CD), partly to watch all of the home video that we have (which is only on PC - we can watch by hooking the camera to the TV, but it doesn't put out good resolution, what we get is basically the camera display blown up about 200000000 times, so its a little pointilistic...), and mostly because I just want to do something cool and drool over new PC components...

I've managed to pull together a system which should perform adequately - it has higher performance than my current desktop PC, which is able to do OK at recording and playing back video (though using Windows Media Center it can't keep up with a HD broadcast, and drops frames often). For about $400 I get a good motherboad with optical audio out, 500GB hard drive, 4GB of memory, a dual-layer DVD writer and a video card which can feed HD into my TV. I have a WiFi card around, and have a spare license for Windows XP. Should be nice, the parts should be here Jan 6... :(

Of course, having a PC doesn't help much without a remote - I've been spending too much time trying to get a remote that came with a Sony PC to work - finding that it uses a completely proprietary configuration, nobody else in the world has made it work, and it generally causes some interesting problems with the rest of the system... I think that I have enough information to make the remote work under Linux now, but will need to modify some drivers to get things to behave.

I've been trying out different software packages under Windows and Linux on my current PC, trying to see what is able to do the things that we want (play DVDs, play stored videos and music, view and record live TV), and will probably setup the PC with GBPVR under Windows XP, also booting and running MythTV under Linux (Ubunto 8.10, to be exact...). Both give access to everything we need - MythTV is also able to get at videos on the web, so we would be able to watch all of the high-def shows that CBS, ABC, etc. are putting up. Eventually, I'll add in a Blueray drive, and maybe another tuner (or two)... Then we just need to do some work with importing old VHS tapes, cassette tapes, albums, etc, and everything will be available at the touch of a button....

Enough of me showing my geeky side... I'm sure there are some people who are interested in this, I promise that the next post will have cute kids and stuff like that - though those cute kids might be helping me assemble the PC. :)

How many calories?

Last night our church had a potluck dinner to celebrate Christmas. After all the eating was done (way too much by yours truly) all the tables and chairs were cleared from the sanctuary, and kids started running in circles in the big open spaces.
After running for a few minutes, Kyle came up to me, puffing and hot from all the running and asked how many calories he had burned off. My answer "more than 10" didn't satisfy him - he wanted to know the actual number... So, I had to say "I don't know - you don't have a calorie counter on your forehead." Some of the other parents near by though that was immensely funny...

I don't like Las Vegas

I finished up a week of meetings in Las Vegas, as part of some software standards activity that is part of my job. Mostly, these meetings involve spending a long day in a conference room, so I don't get to see much of whatever city we're in - except for the evenings which are usually open. Usually these are place I haven't been, so there is some exploring to do. I've been to Las Vegas before, though, so not as much to do that's new - not to mention the various other problems with the current marketing of the city. A few reasons that I especially don't like travel to Vegas:

1) The city is focused on separating you from your money, in lots of unbiblical ways. Gambling is everywhere. You have to walk through a casino to get from the hotel entrance to the elevators. I'm sitting in the airport right now, and there is a huge bank of slot machines 20 feet away. Shows are incredibly expensive - at least $50, for bad seats in a show with a 'nobody' - want to see Better Midler in good seats? Get ready to cough up $400 per person...

2) After gambling, sex seems to be the primary business. You can't walk down the street (at least 'The Strip" - Las Vegas Boulevard) without having a huge number of cards for 'girls' pushed at you. About half of the shows involve dancing girls, with or without all the normal clothing. Billboards and advertising trucks are everywhere hyping strip clubs. I'm not intereseting in this stuff, but would rather not have to see it constantly.

3) There are earthquakes here. Last night, about 8:18 there was an earthquake in Lowell California, which was felt in Vegas. I noticed it mostly from feeling the building swaying back and forth, about 4 inches or so based on seeing the curtains swinging. It felt generally like I was really dizzy. Not dangerous, but a little disturbing and I try to avoid earthquakes.

4) I'm away from my awesom family, and not in a place where I can have as much seeing new things...

That's enough of my rant. I'm on my way home, they've announced that the plane will be boarding in a few minutes, so I'm getting free of Sin City.

Still at Motorola

This was a sorta tough week at work. Bad earnings came out, and management decided to cancel a bunch of projects and lay off around 2000 people. I am not one of the people laid off, though it looks like my projects have been killed. My team was pretty affected though, going from 11 to 5. Don't know what comes next - supposedly more announcements on reorganization will be coming up, and I'll figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. At least I still have a job.

Not sure whether I'm completely glad about escaping though - half of the people who worked for me are being laid off, and I had no notification about it, nor did I know until the end of the day, and knew who was 'safe'. Its tough to see people you've worked with for 3-5 years be let go...

What I learned from the debate

Watching the debate last night (Oct. 7) the only thing that I really learned is that Barak Obama must be a prophet! He knew about the mortgage crisis 2 years ago! He know that Georgia (the country) was in danger from Russia last year! He told people and wrote papers about these!!!! He must be the second coming of Messiah!!! (OK - that one didn't come out in the debate, but listening to some Obama supporters there do seem to be some people who believe that.)

He must not have tried hard enough to make sure that people heard, though, because these things happened... Telling Washington insiders who helped make the mess that there is a mess isn't presidential caliber action. Raising up a grass-roots awareness of the problem and getting America involved in the solution is. (Neither candidate has done that though...)

The only thing that I really learned last night was that I'm not sure either of these two candidates really has a plan for resolving the problems that we face right now. I've said several times that any person who seeks public office should immediately be disqualified from that office. We need the right person in the presidency, not just the best person who happens to be running (and is electable, and popular with the people...).

(In case you missed the dripping sarcasm in the first paragraph, I haven't been converted, I'm still not voting for Obama...)

Why more credit???

Time for me to get shallow, and probably expose how little I know of how finance works and the current economic mess...
It seems that much of the problem came on from banks providing loans to people who really didn't have the means to cover the loan, so that those people could buy houses that they really couldn't afford. The banks did this to get some income - they get interest and hope that the loan doesn't default (which leaves the bank with a house that it has to sell for probably less than the loan amount - causing the bank to lose money). The bank then sells those loans as securities to other people, so that the bank gets in more money that it can loan out. The people buying the loans expect to get income from the interest on the loans, at least, and maybe can sell the securities for more than the loans are worth (which seems stupid to me...).
So, the bank makes a loan, then gives away the income from the loan when it sells the loan. To keep making money, the bank has to get more loans which it can then sell. Essentially, the bank only keeps making money as long as (a) people keep making new loans and (b) they can sell the loans to investors.
So, things have broken down because people started defaulting on loans, making it a risky investment and the banks can't sell the loans anymore. I think that there is a somewhat deeper problem in this - that the whole business model is built on the bank always being able to make and sell more loans. There is a natural limitation in this - eventually we run out of people to loan money to. Even if the bank picks ever riskier people, there are only so many people in the USA, and I don't know about you, but there is a limit to how many loans I need (let alone want) to carry - I only have the mortgage right now and am working hard to save money for the next car so that I don't carry a loan for that. Another 10 years and I won't even have the mortgage.
So, a whole business is collapsing (namely the home mortgage market) because it became a silly and unsustainable business model - namely to make sure that we keep making new loans into infinity. I'm a little surprised that nobody really thought through the long-term business model. Sure, this model looks OK in the short term, but once the pool of people needing money dries up, so does the business. Seems to me that, while we need the government to bail out the banking system and shore up the loan based securities (so that people are willing to buy them again, and restore money to the market) there is a shocking lack of prosecution of the people who thought that this was a valid business model in the first place... I want to see (a) an assurance that banks are going to drop the stupid investment model, and just try to live off the interest on their loans and (b) some of the CEOs of companies following this model will get time in the clink...
So - enough ranting. I don't promise this is accurate, its just what I can see on the surface, and what doesn't seem to be showing up in any of the analysis that I see...

The joys of business travel

This week I've been in Lisbon for a weeks worth of standards meetings with the MIPI alliance - a group establishing microprocessor interfaces (terribly geeky, nerdy stuff to most of you, I'm sure...). There are some good things and some annoying things about these trips (and this one in particular).

Good -

• I get to see some new cities that I otherwise probably wouldn't for quite a while. The meetings don't take all day, so I get to spend a little bit of time looking around and playing tourist, and sometimes finding places I'd like to come back to with my family. Look here for some pictures I took in Lisbon.
• I'm not paying for the trip
• I get to keep lots of airline miles for making the trip
• The work is generally interesting and exciting

Bad -

• I'm away from my family, and never sleep as well when I'm not with my dear wife...
• Most of the time is spent in meeting rooms - the inside of one conference room is pretty much like any other, so it isn't all that glamorous...
• Lisbon does dinner like Spain - really late. Of course the meeting schedule is pretty much like a normal business day everywhere else - no time for a siesta in the afternoon. So I'm up at 6:30 to get ready for the meetings at 8:30, but awake until midnight getting dinner. I don't do well on 6 hours of sleep...
• Europe especially has some jet-lag issues for me coming over, so I'm pretty much tired and messed up for most of the time that I'm here...
  

I have at least two more trips this year, but one will be within the US. Will I be interested in coming back to Lisbon? Probably not - the city, at least what I've seen, isn't all that interesting, and it doesn't feel particularly safe - more pickpocket problems than I've heard in other cities, and more of the businesses seem to be out to rip off the tourists.

If you're interested in seeing where I've been, I have an application on my Facebook page to show the cities I've been to, so become my friend and you can see the full list. I have been to a bunch of places...

You know somethings not right when...

The ice tray in the freezer, which was full of ice cubes yesterday, is now full of water. And there is warm air blowing out of the vents in the freezer. And the refrigerator is getting warmer, even though it is running constantly.... We've been having some trouble with the freezer going through complete defrost/freeze cycles in the last months, but never trouble in the fridge - until today... Holidays are great days for things to go wrong, when they can't be quickly fixed...

So, we have a big cooler full of ice, and the former contents of the fridge, sitting in the kitchen. What was in the freezer was sent to the big chest freezer a while ago, and all we'd been trying to keep was ice... Of course, this couldn't fail in the winter, when we just put everything into the big fridge that the garage becomes...

All should be well again in a few days, depending on how quickly a repairman comes out, figure out what is broken, and gets the parts. (We already had one visit, where he cleaned the coils and said to check if things started working once all was clean...)

A little froggy

I'm in the last stages of recovering from a good chest cold that I picked up from Kyle. I started coughing on Sunday the 17th, and have pretty much been coughing since then... Things are getting better, it always takes me a while to clear out my lungs after one of these. My voice is pretty much toast right now though - which makes it really fun when I'm on a conference call and have to do a lot of talking. Monday night I read to the kids, and had no voice after that...

At least I'm off the cough medicine. Now, just to get back into the bike-to-work routine (which isn't helped by the 50% chance of thunderstorms for tomorrow...).

What I did on my day off...

Yesterday I took a vacation day (well, most of a day - I still had a conference call to do, but that overlapped with Elizabeths gymnastics practice, so I didn't hold us up) and we went to the Six Flags Great America theme park for a day of junk food and exciting rides. Everybody was big enough to go on at least one roller coaster (the Whizzer), and lots of other rides. The picture above was us almost up to the loading area for the Whizzer - don't the kids all look so excited?!

The excitement got to be a little too much for John - he fell asleep in the wagon while we were waiting for Momma and Jessi to ride the Demon (a looping coaster). There are actually a lot of rides for kids 42 inches and up, and Kyle, Elizabeth and Jessi are all in that range, so they could do some pretty cool things.


























We also found lots of walk-around characters. Jessi wanted pictures with everyone she saw - Wags the Dog, Catwoman, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Sylvester. Kyle finally overcame his shyness and went to hug Sylvester. Sylvester even came over to get John involved, making a special point to come to him and get him laughing.

I think that everybody had tons of fun - we didn't get much whining until we were ready to leave - around 8:30 at night (well past everybody's bedtime).

The music isn't that dead...

I'm not sure now how close my iPod is to death. I think that most of the sync issues (and the iPod being wiped clean) were caused by having my phone plugged in at the same time, iTunes seems to get confused and writes enough to the iPod to erase the library file, but tries to write the new library to the phone (which doesn't work). As long as the phone isn't plugged in, things seem to sync OK this week. (I know over the weekend though that I did a number of syncs without the phone plugged into the PC, and the iPod was still corrupted...).

However, as I'm listening to music I'm hearing all sorts of bad glitches... The music generally plays, but there are noticeable audio dropouts and clicks in almost everything I listen to. When I check the same files on the PC, they are OK - so there does seem to be some ongoing hard disk problems...

I could say that I've been through a rollercoaster of emotions this week - thinking that my music player was kaput, then its back, then back to somewhere in the middle... I'm not that attached to the thing though - I do need the music to be productive at work - things seem empty without music while I'm typing. However, in the big scheme of things, my family is a lot more important than a silly piece of glass and plastic, so I'm not exactly shedding tears over the thing...

A day at the fair

We went to the Lake County Fair today. The kids, of course, wanted to go on the rides, and once we said that that was enough rides, there was much wailing (and maybe some gnashing of teeth). They would have been happy to only do all the rides. (The consolation that was offered was that we plan to go to Six Flags next week, and they can do all the rides their little stomachs can handle...).

Along with the midway was Fair Food -in this case elephant ears. (A bunch of batter dropped into boiling oil to cook, then coated with powdered sugar). Here's John with a good coating of powdered sugar...He had sugar on his shirt, his face, in his hair... Good things its Bath Night!

The Day the Music Died...

I am in semi-mourning... My 30GB iPod is on its last legs, dying quietly (pun intended) after only 18 months... I've started getting errors that iTunes can't read the contents of the iPod, but those only happened when I also had my phone connected to the PC, and I figured that iTunes was getting confused about driver letters. Now, the errors come every time, and the iPod has an annoying habit of coming up completely blank (no music) after finishing a 3+ hour sync (there is almost 30G of music to load, after all...). Looks like the hard drive is failing, which isn't too surprising considering all that the little box has been through. I'm still hopeful that I can get it to behave a bit more, but after 3 days it doesn't look good - something is broken. Yesterday it was really hard to get work done without some music to listen to...

So - how do I keep up with podcasts, carry around enough music to listen to, and not bust the budget (which won't easily support a replacement - not with end-of-the-month bills all due in the next week)? I'm going to try downsizing my 'carry along' music and using my Motorola Q smartphone to fill the role of music player. I have a podcast manager/player (beyondpod - available at http://www.codeplex.com/beyondpod) already loaded, which will directly pull podcasts onto the phone (no more syncing!). There is already a media player on the phone, and being a Windows Mobile based product, Windows Media Player on my PC knows how to manage the file store. Just a little problem with space.... I found a great deal on an 8GB flash memory card for the phone on Amazon.com - $37 including shipping (compared to Best Buy wanting $149.99 for the same thing).

I'll just have to work out what music to load in, I can't load everything anymore... (That was why I had the 30G iPod - I can carry my entire music collection, and am likely to always have what I'm in the mood for...) I think that with 8GB I can carry enough styles of music to manage, but it will take more work to keep things fresh and updated... We'll see how things work out, there's always Christmas coming up in 5 months!

More on being a troll

I said earlier that my 'troll' title comes from an interpretation of my last name. For people familiar with the troll dolls (with the wild hair) that came out in the 80's, and people who know me, that type of troll also can apply. My hair is just long enough now to have major bed-head in the morning, sticking straight up like one of those troll dolls (but without the wild neon colors...). It may not be as long as the troll dolls, but still the way it sticks up does remind people of those dolls... (and the trolls as drawn by Jan Brett).

Travel thoughts

I read a great travel quote yesterday - "I love to travel, its the arriving that I hate." - attributed to Albert Einstein. That almost summarizes my thoughts toward travel. I travel a bunch for business, 11 trips last year, probably only 5-6 this year. That combined with personal travel (mostly by car) comes up to around 25% of the time that I'm not around. Looking at my stats on flightmemory.com, I have entered in 185 flight segments, for over 500,000 miles - and that's just the trips I have information for, starting around 2002. I have plenty of trips before that. I've earned 1K status on United (flew >100,000 miles last year, as they measure), which comes in useful on family trips when things go wrong.

I look forward to each trip, getting into the planning, checking what movies will be on the flights, finding out about the airports and cities I'll be going to, how to get to the hotel, etc. Flights can be annoying, but kind of fun too - I really like flying. Being at the destination, though for me is different than the quote above - I'm already looking forward to the return trip.
The big disadvantage for me is that on business trips I tend to be alone, and I really hate to go into a restaurant alone, and eat alone, with nothing to do but look at the other patrons in the restaurant. Since much of my travel goes outside the US, I also get to play 'the ugly American', since I can only order and converse in English. (Not that I haven't tried picking up some basics in other languages, but I've traveled to Copenhagen, Prague, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, Beijing and will be going to Lisbon - that's a lot of languages...)

So, I really look forward to traveling, but am not really happy at the destination, the trip is more about getting there than the destination.

Are lightning bugs scared by lightning?

Driving home last night with all of us in the car, there was a pretty impressive lightning storm in the distance, with some awesome ligtning. One of the kids asked if lightning bugs got scared of the lightning. My answer was to pretend to be a lightning bug (in a high buggy voice) -

"Pretty flashing lightning, you look like just my type. I think I love you. I light my butt to show that I love you." (with appropriate behind wagging).

The kids thought that was hilarious, and we've had a lot of "I light my butt for you" since then.

Boys and dirt go together

One of the fun things about having boys is being reminded of all the ways that one can get dirty. Last night, out for a walk in the neighborhood with the boys, I stopped to talk with a neighbor. The boys, not exactly keen on being part of the conversation, started a wide ranging "Star wars" play, using sticks as light-sabers. Seeing them all the time, I really just focused on seeing that they weren't getting too wild, and hurting themselves (or anything else). In the course of the activity, they found an area of new dirt and mulch nearby, and since sword play involves falling down when hit, they were basically rolling in the dirt. I didn't notice this until it was time to go home - their arms and legs were gray! They had a lot of fun outside, ran off a lot of energy, and showed that they are true boys, with an affinity for finding dirt even where I wouldn't think it possible.

Are we what we search?

Reading on MSNBC.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25509046/) about a case using the types of searches as a defense - namely, that what the people in the area search for reflects the morals of the people in that area. In the case, they showed far more searches for pornography than for 'America' or 'apple pie'.

Not sure that is a valid defense - namely, there are a few points that the article points out. We don't know why the search term was entered, is it out of curiosity, or some less ideal desire? One point that occurred to me that isn't mentioned is that the relative scarcity of a search term, especially something that is as common or well known as apple-pie, doesn't reflect that people aren't interested in that object, but may reflect that people already know about the object and don't have to search for more information... So, the popularity of search terms doesn't really reflect accurately all the interests of the community doing the searches, since interests that are well known by the community will be under-represented.

Another case of garbage-in->garbage-out data. Not all of the data is going into the study for the defense, so an anomalous garbage conclusion is reached.

Disqualified by Desire

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

In seeking to follow and serve God, we must always be seeking to know what God wants us to do, and not what we want to do for God. This is similar to my last post - that having the desire to do something for God, and feeling qualified to do it (meaning that I feel qualified in my strength to do the thing) disqualifies me somewhat from being able to serve God in that way. If I feel qualified to do something, I tend to seek to do that thing in my own strength - having pride to be able to serve God in that way. In doing this I take my view off God and place it on myself, removing myself from the place where I can hear God and his leading. (And I see this in my life - those areas where I feel the most qualified, I feel God in the least, since 'I don't need Him there'.)

I may plan to do great things, to use my talents and abilities to reach people for Jesus, but God cannot work through that - he can work best through my weaknesses. A few examples:

I am a member of the worship band in my church, and have been doing this for about 9 years or so. I am not the best musician, but able to do my part. When I started, though, I came in with certainty of my ability, and a leading from God that this was what I should do. I was quickly humbled - brought to see that I needed to learn much in order to be a part of this group of musicians. I brought all that I had (little) as an offering - allowing God to work through my uncertainty and weakness. When I have been the least confident of being able to play a song, is when I am most able to feel God there with me, and His pleasure. Now, as I have more practice under my belt, I have to admit that I don't feel the same closeness during worship that I did at first.

At one time I lead a small group in the church - a group of families and people who met in our house for bible study and prayer. This is something that I did not feel capable of doing when first asked. I did agree to lead (eventually), knowing that I would have to lean on God to accomplish anything in the group - I didn't feel qualified to lead a study and teach others, I really don't like to pray, and generally am not someone who is energized in groups and discussions. However, during the two years that I led the group we managed to grow in size, and to develop good relationships and I think grow closer to God. That was God's doing - I only followed Him, and allowed Him to do work in the group. If I had felt qualified however, and didn't lean on God and wait to hear from Jim, and let Him speak through me, I'm sure that the group would not have lasted even one year.

I cannot stay out of sin on my own power. What I can do, however, is keep myself close to Jesus, where I can clearly hear Him speaking to me, and to be so captivated by that presence that nothing else can tempt me. If only I could do that - to hear so clearly!!! That closeness of relationship with Christ, where I seek only Him, is something that I do desire so much, and which is truly a desire granted from God.

Now, if only we could apply these principles to politics - that any person who wants the job of President of the US should immediately be disqualified from running for the office. I am a bit bothered that we never seem to get the best person for the job (looking at it even with one of the parties - John McCain is not the best Republican for the office) - only the most electable, the best of those that are willing to run.

Does Religion == Stupid?

So, going through my news this morning I find this post on The Register : "God makes you stupid, researchers claim". The basic premise of the research is a 'casual' link that intelligent people are less likely to believe in God (or that less intelligent people are more likely to believe in God). This is based on the low percentage of academics who believe in God.

I have to say that, as a born-again Christian, I have some problems with this. I feel that I qualify as an intelligent person - Masters degree in engineering, successful career, multiple patents to my name - not exactly a poor half-wit seeking solace in religion. The question that I bring up is whether or not the study which is referenced actually is drawing out the right conclusion about the cause of the link. I will admit that few people in academia (university settings) seem to profess a believe in God (or any other supreme being - pick your religion...) - and that those who do have religious beliefs seem to be looked down on (see Expelled as a case that religious seeming thoughts are not tolerated very well). But, is it really that case that religion is only satisfying to those who are less intelligent - that smarter people are able to see beyond the 'mumbo-jumbo' and think for themselves?

Looking from the other side of the fence - as an intelligent person who firmly believes in God and Jesus Christ as my Savior - I see something different underlying the link. Intelligent people, especially the people who are in Academia, tend to rely more on their own abilities to solve problems and see through. They become proud of their intelligence and self-reliance - they do not need other people, and especially do not need God. Jesus said in John 6:44 - "No one can come to be unless the Father who sent me draws him" - that only through the work of God can we understand and see the wonder of Him. In John 6:65 Jesus says "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him".

Maybe it is rather that the more intelligent people, those who are proud in their abilities and have no need of God, have so offended God that he does not enable them to see Him? Their sinful pride blocks their ability to truly experience God - just as the Pharisees were blocked from truly seeing God (and his Son). When we are self-reliant, God has no place in our lives, and is not able to work through us - he leaves us alone. That is a true tragedy, for there will come a day when God will judge all men, and those who know him (and his Son) not will suffer in eternity.

Don't take this as another rant from a religious nut-case, as I said (and hopefully you'll see in later posts) I consider myself quite intelligent - an engineer familiar with how things in this world work. This intelligence, with God's enablement, allowed me to see the emptiness in a humanistic view of the world, a world without God, where we are only the by-product of primordial ooze. While in a place of doubting what the world has to offer, and my own value, I was introduced to the living Christ, and met Him truly. I attend a church which has many Mensa members and professors in attendance - surely we are not deluded into religion, but have entered into it with careful consideration, seeking a relationship with a living Person, and not just solace or an explanation for things we cannot understand.

The moral is to be careful of the assumptions that are placed onto research. Even if a connection between two things can be proven, the cause of the connection may not be what you expect. Here, maybe the intelligence isn't the source of the connection, but the pride associated with it.

In the beginning

OK - not such a great and creative title, but this is the first post, isn't it? What else should I call the first post? And anyway, I'm only promising shallow thoughts - not quite up to the '42' standard that Deep Thought could answer, maybe only 40... I'm not claiming to be an all-knowing, have all the answers to the worlds problems, and this blog isn't going to solve anybodys problems. I'm just looking for a place to share some of my views and thoughts on the world. Expect things to be pretty eclectic and all over the place.

Why a Troll? This comes from what might be a misrepresentation of the translation of my last name - which can be translated as bridgetender. Thinking of the troll in the 3 billy-goats-gruff story as a bridgetender leads to the thought that I can call myself a troll.

Lets see where we go next, shall we?