"PHP meetup and Teen Wolf" written by Joe on estrip.org

01/15/14 11:50 - ID#58578

PHP meetup and Teen Wolf

After work I headed over to Synacor for the PHP meetup. The Synacor developer who runs the meetup, Shawn, is pretty awesome. They have a sweet office down near the marina. We over PSRs and composer, both of which I was aware of, but didn't really know how they functioned or how to use them. I know I could always learn about anything PHP from (e:paul) but it's good that I don't always have to bother him, lol. One thing Shawn mentioned he found was good practice, especially for javascript, was trying to create a snake game as quickly as you can. I think that might be a good exercise if I ever finish this thermostat.

I started watching Teen Wolf today. Really behind considering it is now in it's third season, but I have to catch up to watch with (e:paul) and (e:terry).
It's amazing, it makes me want to be a werewolf minus people hunting me. Not to mention all the guys in it are ridic attractive. The best part is I've found all the episodes either dubbed auf Deutsch or in English with German subtitles, so hopefully it'll be a good way to practice.
(e:xandra) thinks it sucks but I say she just isn't in the target teen girl/gay man demographic.

Permalink: PHP_meetup_and_Teen_Wolf.html
Words: 219
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/17/14 09:56

Category: music

01/14/14 09:09 - ID#58576

Open mic night at Nietzsche's

(e:xandra,58574) already posted this but I thought I'd add my recording for posterity. usually I don't like open mic nights or Nietzsche's, but this made my life.

It was a better open mic night than I thought it'd be, but I was sinusy and kind of lame, and left early with (e:terry). Besides the throaty demon lady there was a cute ukulele guy who was pretty good and some guy from the Albrights who sounded decent. I want to do karaoke.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

Permalink: Open_mic_night_at_Nietzsche_s.html
Words: 85
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/14/14 09:13

Category: food

01/12/14 10:18 - ID#58573

Off the wagon

Back on that white stuff.

(e:paul) had a sugar craving yesterday after I got back from work. He wanted to go on a walk to the coop for dessert. I couldn't say no so we went with (e:terry) to the coop. We got two of the amazing peanut butter riced krispie treats, a chocolate hazelnut tart, chips, dip and some token veggies. Don't blame me!

We can try again.

Permalink: Off_the_wagon.html
Words: 83
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/12/14 10:18

Category: hiking

01/12/14 08:35 - ID#58570

Winter hike at Devils Hole

Today (e:paul) and (e:terry) and I got up early today to go hiking with (e:Robert) and Mickey. We headed up to the gorge after a breakfast (sort of) at Dunkin.

It was so crazy icy I can't believe we actually did it. At first we weren't even going to go down into the gorge because the first set of stairs was just sheet of ice. So we kept walking down to the Devil's Hole stairs, where Paul convinced us to walk down. Or more accurately, slide down.

It was stupid dangerous but really fun. Devil's Hole smells like it exactly how sounds. The way back up was a lot easier.

Afterwards Paul and Terry headed to Paul's cousins for dinner. I ended up going on a cleaning rampage before working on the Arduino thermostat.

The classiest public bathroom ever built. Slate roof?

This tag doesn't look very happy.

Permalink: Winter_hike_at_Devils_Hole.html
Words: 204
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/12/14 10:22

Category: bowling

01/11/14 01:23 - ID#58565

Marco's and Bowling at Voelker's

Tonight (e:paul) and (e:terry) and I met up with most of my family and my uncles Pat and Todd at Marcos on Niagara. It was delicious but really greasu Buffalo Italian food. Terry and I split the eggplant parm. We actually got it and mistakenly thought our portions were full size because they were so huge.

Afterwards Paul, Terry and I met up with everyone to go bowling at Voelker's. I used to spend so much time there in middle and high school. Along with Wegman's, so cool.

Tery was ridiculously good of course. For real, I lost count of all his strikes. Paul and I did pretty well for our group but neither of us broke a hundo in two games. Before we left, we missed something going down there because four cops showed up for some fight between a guy and a girl. A different guy and girl were screaming at each other in the arcade on the way out. Can people really not wait to fight until they get home? It's so trashy.

Paul having so much fun!

Permalink: Marco_s_and_Bowling_at_Voelker_s.html
Words: 201
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/11/14 01:31

Category: beer

01/11/14 01:28 - ID#58563

Kleinste bierclub

The smallest beer club eva! Just me, (e:terry) and (e:xandra). It was still a good time and the beers were all ales and IPAs for the most part which was amazing. Terry and I had a great talk and Molson ice on the way home (classy cats). I wanted to stay for karaoke with Alex but work blah. Maybe next time.

Permalink: Kleinste_bierclub.html
Words: 66
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/11/14 01:19

Category: internet

01/09/14 12:01 - ID#58558

Livestreamed tortoise

The New York Times ran this advertisement-article about streaming home security cams, a company that makes cameras and has a website to view them.

To me it seems somewhat paranoid to have cameras everywhere in your house. I also would never trust sending all of it to an external site where you have no control of the data after that. If you can access it there who else can?

Anyway in the article they talked about how a pet store in Michigan strapped a camera to their desert tortoise who roams the store. It's so freaking cute. I'd say Basra should have one but I'm not sure sitting in the brown room is exciting. maybe in the yard.

Permalink: Livestreamed_tortoise.html
Words: 125
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/09/14 12:05

Category: weather

01/07/14 11:59 - ID#58553

Snow day for real

Today was a real snow day. I was ridiculously happy to be off of work when I found out at 7.

After getting up I went with (e:terry) to his office to try and fix one of his computers. The power supply had blown up. I couldn't find any sort of output on the multimeter and the system booted using another PCs PSU, so I took one out of an ancient computer in the office and swapped it in. I almost froze on the way back home.

(e:paul) and I had a great lunch of lentils, rice and green beans.
The rest of the day was spent programming the web thermostat and wasting time. I'm kind of frustrated on how long its taken me to do the thermostat (1 month so far) but I've been learning a lot. I wish I had more time to dedicate towards learning. Feeling my way around the d3 library alone has been crazy complicated for me.

(e:paul) really wanted flourless chocolate cake for days but we didn't have ingredients. He egged me into riding to the coop to get it but I really wanted to just do it for the challenge. At this point riding has become a base instinct for me I think. The ride wasn't too bad so bundled up. We didn't even need the baking ingredients, I came back with a vegan peanut butter rice krispie and that was enough dessert for us. There was something ridiculous about riding on a bike when a car was available, to a fancy grocery store, in a snow storm, to get food for a fancy dessert we didn't even make (that bougie life).

Ready for the world.

Permalink: Snow_day_for_real.html
Words: 292
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/08/14 01:50

Category: weather

01/06/14 05:26 - ID#58547

Snow Day (sort of)

We got out an hour early at work today because they closed the skyway and thruway. I had my bike today since my parents borrowed my car. The ride in was super easy and not even cold.

On the way home I considered taking the south Park bus, but it was so gridlocked all along South Park, it was easier for me to ride home. The ride wasn't bad since I was with the wind mostly, but it took me an hour and a half compared to 35 minutes. It was crazy whiteout and traffic was a mess, I don't even want to think how long itd be if I drove home. Maybe its crazy to ride but I felt validated when some guy at a bus stop yelled at me "Go forth, my brother!"

I'd have more pictures but I like having hands and they'd be just blank anyway. I really hope we are closed tomorrow.

Never let me say its too bad to ride because this was as bad as it gets.

Permalink: Snow_Day_sort_of_.html
Words: 176
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/06/14 05:48

Category: environment

01/06/14 12:45 - ID#58546

Buffalo battery recycling

There is a giant bag of batteries at home that's has been accumulating for a long time. Almost all of them are non-rechargable, alkaline batteries. (e:Paul) wanted to get rid of them during his big cleanup on Friday. Despite being made of recoverable metals and mercury free, there are very few places to recycle them. Most places online recommended throwing them into the trash.

That seems fucking ridiculous to me. Why would you place all these heavy metals (zinc, magnesium) and useful steel in a landfill or incinerator somewhere? Supposedly it's not profitable to recycle. I'd support a tax or deposit on battery sales to fund recycling - they do it for car batteries, so why not smaller ones?

Anyway, I emailed a few places. If you are looking to recycle:

Hazman in Tonawanda (a local haz-waste recycling company) takes them and recycles them for $0.50 cents a pound. I confirmed over email they are actually recycled and not just incinerated.

There is a Canadian company called RMC on the east side that is a terminal for battery recycling, but they don't accept household quantities. Their sales manager, Andrew Paupst was amazing and recommended taking them to UB electronics drop off where they will be recycled.

Hello Joe,
It seems the University of Buffalo has a recycling program. I have attached a link that gives the location of all of their collection points. Hope it helps.
Regards

Andrew Paupst
Raw Materials Company Inc.- ISO 14001

Permalink: Buffalo_battery_recycling.html
Words: 266
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/06/14 03:02