My frustrations with the GSC 10 grew to the point where I'd pretty much given up on it, leaving it turned off on my single bike. I lived with it like this for a while, since I don't really need the cadence information, but having speed jumps all over the place and not having consistent speed readings was bothersome.
You can buy the speed/cadence inertia based sensors separately, but the package gives you $10 off. At $70, this is not cheap, but given the longevity of my other Garmin products, it seemed like a pretty safe bet.
The package comes with 2 sensors, one fat and short, and one long and skinny. The fat one goes around your front hub (or rear, if you like to use your bike on a trainer), while the skinny one goes on your crank. You pair it by selecting the speed and cadence sensor option (or just one or the other if you bough tone), and then ride off. It's as painless as it gets.
There is only one potential issue with the cadence sensor, which is that if you tend to scuff your crank, you might eventually wear out the rubber band. That's not a big deal for me, but it could lead to a loss of a sensor, which is expensive.
Both sensors take the CR2032 battery, the same as the heart rate monitors. That's very considerate of Garmin, and ensures that I can just stock one battery for most Garmin products.
Assuming that this sensor's going to be as reliable as other Garmin products, the replacement for the GSC 10 is much better and a worthy upgrade. Recommended.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Virgin Islands 2014: Marina Cay to Sandy Spit
We got up early once again and headed over to Lee Bay, a short 20 minute drive away to dive in the little area. The mooring buoy looked questionable, but it was indeed tied down to concrete at the bottom, so it was safe for us to stay there and dive. The visibility in the water was disappointing, though we managed to see a large lobster and some shrimp.
After the dive, we motored over to Monkey Point, which was highly recommended in the sailing guide for good snorkeling, but disparaged in the dive guide as not being worth the time. We got there and picked up a mooring buoy and started snorkeling and yes, it was good snorkeling, though the visibility was till not great. There was even an interesting shore entry, and we got plenty of fish and other views.
We had an early lunch and then cast off to start our first long sail of the trip, a 9 nautical mile journey to Jost Van Dyke. This was only an hour and a half, though it was interspersed with rain. We got views of the North side of Tortola, as well as sights of the various places our charter company had forbidden us to go because of the difficult sea conditions found there.
On arrival near Jost Van Dyke, we spotted Sandy Cay, but upon reading the cruising guide closer, discovered that Sandy Spit was a suitable overnight anchorage, and looked just as inviting. We dropped anchor once, but then another boat left so we grabbed their spot closer to Green Cay, and dropped anchor again. While we managed to drop the hook into sand, the anchor chain itself was wrapped around a piece of coral, and Arturo had to snorkel down to unwrap it.
Given that Sandy Spit was more crowded at the moment, we decided to take the tender over to Foxy's and hike over to the bubbly pools. The hike was ok, though surprisingly long given its description as a "short walk". The bubbly pools wouldn't have been more exciting in north swell conditions. As it was the bubbles came only semi-frequently but it was enough to fascinate and excite Bowen.
Bowen fell asleep on the way back to the Sail Pending, so we dropped him and my parents off and snorkeled over to Sandy Spit for one last look at it. Then it was a beautiful sunset and we enjoyed dinner and the lovely views.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
After the dive, we motored over to Monkey Point, which was highly recommended in the sailing guide for good snorkeling, but disparaged in the dive guide as not being worth the time. We got there and picked up a mooring buoy and started snorkeling and yes, it was good snorkeling, though the visibility was till not great. There was even an interesting shore entry, and we got plenty of fish and other views.
We had an early lunch and then cast off to start our first long sail of the trip, a 9 nautical mile journey to Jost Van Dyke. This was only an hour and a half, though it was interspersed with rain. We got views of the North side of Tortola, as well as sights of the various places our charter company had forbidden us to go because of the difficult sea conditions found there.
On arrival near Jost Van Dyke, we spotted Sandy Cay, but upon reading the cruising guide closer, discovered that Sandy Spit was a suitable overnight anchorage, and looked just as inviting. We dropped anchor once, but then another boat left so we grabbed their spot closer to Green Cay, and dropped anchor again. While we managed to drop the hook into sand, the anchor chain itself was wrapped around a piece of coral, and Arturo had to snorkel down to unwrap it.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Given that Sandy Spit was more crowded at the moment, we decided to take the tender over to Foxy's and hike over to the bubbly pools. The hike was ok, though surprisingly long given its description as a "short walk". The bubbly pools wouldn't have been more exciting in north swell conditions. As it was the bubbles came only semi-frequently but it was enough to fascinate and excite Bowen.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Previous
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Virgin Islands 2014: Leverick Bay to Marina Cay
It was time for a land excursion: despite visiting Virgin Gorda many times in the past, I'd never visited Gorda Peak, and Amy was itching for a hike, so at 8:00am we piled into the dinghy, and took a short taxi ride to Gorda Peak National Park where we told the driver to come back after an hour and a half when we saw that the trail was only 800m long.
The hike wasn't pretty, lots of rain forest amidst a steeply climbing trail, and even at the top the folliage covered up everything, except that the park service had built a viewing platform so you could climb up over the trees and look at the panaroma around you, and maybe even spot the boat.
Upon returning, we docked the boat against the fuel dock and acquired freshwater, got the dive tanks filled up, and then left to visit Prickly Pear Island for a snorkel and swim. We then ate lunch and headed over to the dogs for more diving. The first site we tried had too strong a current, so we visited a second site, called Billy Bronco, which lived up to its name.
By the time we were done it was 4:00pm and we made a beeline for Marina Cay, where we knew they would have mooring buoys to spare. It was nearly 5:00pm by the time we got there, and we got to watch the sunset from the boat this time in preparation for the long sail to Jost Van Dyke the next day.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
The hike wasn't pretty, lots of rain forest amidst a steeply climbing trail, and even at the top the folliage covered up everything, except that the park service had built a viewing platform so you could climb up over the trees and look at the panaroma around you, and maybe even spot the boat.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Upon returning, we docked the boat against the fuel dock and acquired freshwater, got the dive tanks filled up, and then left to visit Prickly Pear Island for a snorkel and swim. We then ate lunch and headed over to the dogs for more diving. The first site we tried had too strong a current, so we visited a second site, called Billy Bronco, which lived up to its name.
By the time we were done it was 4:00pm and we made a beeline for Marina Cay, where we knew they would have mooring buoys to spare. It was nearly 5:00pm by the time we got there, and we got to watch the sunset from the boat this time in preparation for the long sail to Jost Van Dyke the next day.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Price Drop: How to Interview A Financial Advisor
It's been a year since the launch of How to Interview A Financial Advisor. The book's about matched my expectations, but it's the only one of my books that's really written for a general audience, and could potentially reach more people.
Effective today, I've reduced the price of the Kindle edition to $4.99, and the paperback to $11.99. Note that for the next few days, Amazon's running a promotion where you get to take 25% off any printed books by entering BOOKDEAL25 when you checkout, and the paperback qualifies.
I've also enrolled the book into Kindle Select, which means that it's also available to borrow if you have a Kindle Unlimited acccount or are a Prime member. This should further reduce the barrier to anyone wanting to read the book.
Happy Holidays!
Effective today, I've reduced the price of the Kindle edition to $4.99, and the paperback to $11.99. Note that for the next few days, Amazon's running a promotion where you get to take 25% off any printed books by entering BOOKDEAL25 when you checkout, and the paperback qualifies.
I've also enrolled the book into Kindle Select, which means that it's also available to borrow if you have a Kindle Unlimited acccount or are a Prime member. This should further reduce the barrier to anyone wanting to read the book.
Happy Holidays!
Virgin Islands 2014: Marina Cay to Leverick Bay
Much of the good diving in the area near Marina Cay was near the Dogs, a small cluster of islands between Tortola and Virgin Gorda. The most famous was the plane wreck at Great Dog in the Coral Gardens. According to the book, it was tough to find, but we had the fortune to get there just as another dive boat arrived, and Arturo snorkeled around to pre-scout the site, so he could lead us to the plane.
The wreck was a lot of fun, but we also saw sting rays on the return to the Sail Pending. We then went over to the Pinnacles, another dive site literally around the corner, which was known for good snorkeling. A quick snorkel told me that the place was over-rated and I opted out of the dive, but Amy and Arturo went ahead with it, and reported that the surge and terrain made it fun, but there wasn't much else to see.
We then headed over to the Bitter End Yacht Club, which I had missed the previous visit, and there to our dismay discovered that they didn't have laundry facilities! Upon learning that, we dropped off some garbage, Amy bought a pair of sailing gloves, and dropped our mooring to visit Leverick Bay, where in addition to having laundry and on-shore showers, they gave you 100 gallons of free water and a bag of ice for staying on their mooring.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
The wreck was a lot of fun, but we also saw sting rays on the return to the Sail Pending. We then went over to the Pinnacles, another dive site literally around the corner, which was known for good snorkeling. A quick snorkel told me that the place was over-rated and I opted out of the dive, but Amy and Arturo went ahead with it, and reported that the surge and terrain made it fun, but there wasn't much else to see.
We then headed over to the Bitter End Yacht Club, which I had missed the previous visit, and there to our dismay discovered that they didn't have laundry facilities! Upon learning that, we dropped off some garbage, Amy bought a pair of sailing gloves, and dropped our mooring to visit Leverick Bay, where in addition to having laundry and on-shore showers, they gave you 100 gallons of free water and a bag of ice for staying on their mooring.
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Friday, December 12, 2014
Virgin Islands 2014: Cooper Island to Marina Cay
We woke up early and were the second boat to leave the marina and the second boat to arrive at the Baths.
The Baths' entry had changed once again from 2 years ago when I last went. Last time, I could still dinghy into the beach to drop non-swimmers there. This time, the beach had been cordoned off and everyone had to swim. Bowen was no problem, since he'd demonstrated a willingness to let me tow him around in his lifejacket. But my mom upon seeing this just gave up and decided to stay on the boat.
The Baths are called that because of the Batholiths, not because you can actually take a Bath there. The hike through them is easily one of the prettiest and most exciting short walks you can take anywhere. Don't take my word for it. My son's idea of hiking is sitting on my shoulders, but upon entry into the Baths, he insisted on walking every step, only taking assistance whenever the water got too high for him to walk, which didn't happen very often.
The disclaimer on the entry claims this to be a difficult and challenging walk, but in reality, both the 3 year old and the 70+ year olds had no problem negotiating the stairs, the steep rock surfaces, and the water-laden portions of the walk.
Upon reaching Devil's Bay, we took a swim and spied a hole in the barrier where the dinghy could get through. Arturo went back to get the dinghy and my mom while the rest of us waited and played in the sand and water. By the time Arturo got back, however, the crowds had arrived and it was impossible to beach the dinghy, so I dragged my mom through the water onto the beach where she had no problems getting the walk back. The return to the dinghy was made easier by the lines the dinghy was tied to.
After that, we had lunch on the boat and then there was only a time for a single 60-minute dive at the Aquarium (just outside Spanish Town) before we headed to Marina Cay. At Marina Cay, Arturo and Amy went for tank refills while I took my family to the beach for an evening swim. The long dive and the swim made me realize that my recent weight loss had one negative side-effect, which was that I got cold and stayed cold even in 82 degree water.
The local dive shop didn't have a cold fill, so we had to wait a while for the divers to get back to return us to the boat. However, watching the sunset from Marina Cay didn't suck at all.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
The local dive shop didn't have a cold fill, so we had to wait a while for the divers to get back to return us to the boat. However, watching the sunset from Marina Cay didn't suck at all.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Virgin Islands 2014: Peter Island to Cooper Island
The morning rose and we discovered that the starboard engine was empty of coolant. I suspected that I hadn't closed the coolant cap properly during the previous coolant check, which caused the coolant to all leak out while the engine was running. We filled the coolant back up but I decided that the prudent thing to do was to bring the boat back to Conch Charters anyway.
Well, as we approached the mooring buoys off Burt's point, the alarm went off again and I found myself once again mooring with only the port engine! This validated the prudent decision we'd made earlier, and to reward us we got a few rainbows while waiting for the repair man to show up. When he showed up, he looked at it and realized that the water pump had broken, leaking coolant all over the place. "This is going to take at least an hour to fix, so feel free to go ashore."
We went ashore, reprovisioned and generally cooled our heels until the repair men (he didn't clone himself: he got reinforcements) declared the engine fixed. We ended up leaving Tortola around noon, and immediately headed for Cooper Island, since there was not a moment to spare in acquiring a mooring buoy: we ended up getting one of the last 3 available, and the others were immediately filled up within minutes after we were secure.
We took the tender over to the Cooper Island resort, and spent the rest of the day, snorkeling, getting ice cream, and swimming on the beautiful swimming beach. I decided to swim back to the boat using mask and snorkel, instigating a race with the tender. Unfortunately, I got lost and headed for the wrong boat and had to be steered back to the Sail Pending by the tender, which ensured that I lost.
It was a rolicking ride, because our late arrival meant we had one of the most exposed mooring buoys available, but we slept well, except for my son waking up in the middle of the night and upon seeing my CPAP mask, decided that since daddy was wearing a snorkel at night, he had to have his snorkel as well.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
We went ashore, reprovisioned and generally cooled our heels until the repair men (he didn't clone himself: he got reinforcements) declared the engine fixed. We ended up leaving Tortola around noon, and immediately headed for Cooper Island, since there was not a moment to spare in acquiring a mooring buoy: we ended up getting one of the last 3 available, and the others were immediately filled up within minutes after we were secure.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
We took the tender over to the Cooper Island resort, and spent the rest of the day, snorkeling, getting ice cream, and swimming on the beautiful swimming beach. I decided to swim back to the boat using mask and snorkel, instigating a race with the tender. Unfortunately, I got lost and headed for the wrong boat and had to be steered back to the Sail Pending by the tender, which ensured that I lost.
It was a rolicking ride, because our late arrival meant we had one of the most exposed mooring buoys available, but we slept well, except for my son waking up in the middle of the night and upon seeing my CPAP mask, decided that since daddy was wearing a snorkel at night, he had to have his snorkel as well.
Previous
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Virgin Islands 2014: Norman Island to Peter Island
As was my wont on these sailing trips, Arturo and I got up at 6:00am, made coffee, checked the engines, and moved the boat to the Indians. The seas were still rocky, but that didn't deter us from doing a dive and snorkeling in the area.
The waters were churned up, and so lacking in the clarity that I'd seen on previous trips, but it was still very good.
After lunch, we intended to motor over to Cooper Island to spend the evening, but just off Peter Island we heard an alarm from the engine, and quickly ascertained that the Starboard engine was overheating. We quickly turned off the engine and I took the boat into Peter Island's Great Harbor to a mooring Buoy to assess the damage. Upon examining the engine, we found some coolant on the floor but didn't see any other obvious damage. Calling Conch Charters, they asked us to run an experiment again in an hour and report back. We tried it and the engine quickly overheated once again, so they asked us to bring the boat over to them again tomorrow for a thorough check.
I didn't feel like moving the boat after that, so we grabbed the tender and went ashore, where we hiked over to Sprat Bay and walked up the hill towards the hotels until we saw Deadman's Bay and Honeymoon Beach, where we anchored during the previous trip. The winds were so high that there were no boats anchored on Deadman's Bay. Arturo successfully negotiated a low price for a diving boat at the island's dive shop, and we headed back for dinner and a beautiful sunset.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
I didn't feel like moving the boat after that, so we grabbed the tender and went ashore, where we hiked over to Sprat Bay and walked up the hill towards the hotels until we saw Deadman's Bay and Honeymoon Beach, where we anchored during the previous trip. The winds were so high that there were no boats anchored on Deadman's Bay. Arturo successfully negotiated a low price for a diving boat at the island's dive shop, and we headed back for dinner and a beautiful sunset.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Virgin Islands 2014 Trip
Bowen, my parents, Arturo Crespo, Amy and I chartered a sailboat and visited the British Virgin Islands and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands from November 23rd to December 2nd. It was my longest sailing charter yet, and in November we got great weather, plenty of rainbows, but murky waters (comparatively) for diving.
This is the hub for all the blog posts from the trip report, as well as photos, etc.
This is the hub for all the blog posts from the trip report, as well as photos, etc.
- November 23rd, Tortola to Norman Island
- November 24th, Norman Island to Peter Island
- November 25th, Peter Island to Cooper Island
- November 26th, Cooper Island to Marina Cay
- November 27th, Marina Cay to Leverick Bay
- November 28th, Leverick Bay to Marina Cay
- November 29th, Marina Cay to Sandy Spit
- November 30th, Sandy Spit to Leinster Bay
- December 1st, Leinster Bay to Sanders Bay
- December 2nd, Sanders Bay to Tortola
- Learnings and Conclusion
Virgin Islands 2014: Tortola to Norman Island
We got off the plane, spent a night in St. Thomas, and then took the ferry to Tortola to spend our first night on the Conch Charters catamaran, Sail Pending.
The Sail Pending was a 10 year old Leopard 43 that looked like it had been well used. Some of the hatches wouldn't seal properly, while everything felt just a bit loose. I'd always said that I'd take an old, well-maintained boat over a newer boat that'd been abused any day, but this was pushing it quite a bit.
Nevertheless, Sail Pending was half the price of all the other charters available at this time, so it was either this boat or we wouldn't have done the trip, given my difficulty in recruiting crew on short notice. Joining me this time around was Arturo and Amy, who were also present for the previous BVI trip.
As sail briefings go, Conch was very personal, but also very casual. In addition to going over ship systems, we were also given a chart briefing that was mostly unnecessary, but still a good refresher. Our dive equipment arrived just as the briefing was over and we were ready to sail. The engine tachometer on the starboard engine didn't work, despite the staff's attempts to fix the problem, but we promised not to over-drive the engine anyway, since we were in a sailboat!
The seas were high today, as were the winds. Rather than go out with reef'd sails, we were told that just opening up a reef'd jib and sailing downwind would get us to Norman Island on a broad reach rather quickly, and indeed we got there in a record 45 minutes! What was even better, my favorite anchorage, Kelly's Cove, had a mooring ball open and we quickly took it.
Then, it was the requisite visit to the caves, followed by a visit to shore where we did some light hiking. Sunset from Kelly's Cove was gorgeous as usual, and we got a dinner of Pasta as everyone was too tired to cook that evening. It was a rollicky night, but with the exhaustion from travel, we all got plenty of sleep.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Nevertheless, Sail Pending was half the price of all the other charters available at this time, so it was either this boat or we wouldn't have done the trip, given my difficulty in recruiting crew on short notice. Joining me this time around was Arturo and Amy, who were also present for the previous BVI trip.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
As sail briefings go, Conch was very personal, but also very casual. In addition to going over ship systems, we were also given a chart briefing that was mostly unnecessary, but still a good refresher. Our dive equipment arrived just as the briefing was over and we were ready to sail. The engine tachometer on the starboard engine didn't work, despite the staff's attempts to fix the problem, but we promised not to over-drive the engine anyway, since we were in a sailboat!
The seas were high today, as were the winds. Rather than go out with reef'd sails, we were told that just opening up a reef'd jib and sailing downwind would get us to Norman Island on a broad reach rather quickly, and indeed we got there in a record 45 minutes! What was even better, my favorite anchorage, Kelly's Cove, had a mooring ball open and we quickly took it.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Then, it was the requisite visit to the caves, followed by a visit to shore where we did some light hiking. Sunset from Kelly's Cove was gorgeous as usual, and we got a dinner of Pasta as everyone was too tired to cook that evening. It was a rollicky night, but with the exhaustion from travel, we all got plenty of sleep.
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| From Virgin Islands 2014 |
Monday, December 08, 2014
DisneyWorld Magic Kingdom
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| From December 4, 2014 |
DisneyWorld tickets are expensive, about $90 per day per person. You can opt for more expensive "park hopper" passes, but in practice, the overhead of switching parks is so high that you'd never do it with a toddler, so I opted to visit only one park a day. Given the realities of a 3-year-old, we could only visit the Magic Kingdom as he was unlikely to get much out of the other parks.
We landed in Orlando and got a hotel at the Ramada Inn Suites near the airport, rather than try for one of the park hotels. The park hotels are closer, and you don't have to rent a car, since they'll pick you up from the airport, but on the other hand they're very expensive, and you pretty much have to eat on site if you don't want to drive.
One fairly well known trick is to sign up for the FastPass+ in advance, so you can skip lines. There are books and apps that tell you which rides need Fast Passes and which rides don't, but I figured I'd just wing it. It turned out that we visited on low-crowd days (crowd level 4 on the first day and crowd level 3 on the second), so while the FastPass was good, it wasn't critical.
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| From December 4, 2014 |
It turns out that the FastPasses are most useful for kiddie rides like Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Goofy's Barnstormers, Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, and the Haunted House. The rest of the rides like Pirates of the Carribean or Under The Sea were relatively unimpacted and we didn't need fast passes to see them. One ride that most needed FastPasses was the Astro Orbiter, but didn't offer them
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| From December 4, 2014 |
The fun ones for Bowen were the Tomorrow Speedway, where he got to drive his own car, Buzz Lightyear, because he got to rotate the car, and the Barnstormer, the only roller-coaster style ride in the park he was tall enough to do. But true to form, he tried every ride once and didn't actually want to repeat rides. He wasn't scared by Haunted Castle, but didn't find Winnie the Pooh as much fun.
One thing we did was to rent a stroller. That was OK, but it wasn't strictly necessary. I thought it might give him an opportunity to nap, but it turned out he was too wound up to nap anyway.
For me, about 2 days is right for a 3 year old in the Magic Kingdom Park. It's enough that you can do every ride (provided you arrive on a low crowd day), and watch a substantial number of shows, but not so much that you would have to repeat rides. The Orlando Park is a lot bigger than the California Park, so it's nice to see things like the steamer or the Tom Sawyer's island take on a scale that California just can't do.
As a break just before this year's Virgin Islands trip, it was just the thing, but I wouldn't want to do this more than once every few years.
Sunday, December 07, 2014
Review: Asus RT-N66U Router
My 5 year old used Cisco E3000 was on its last legs, and the cheap $20 replacement TPLink wasn't any better. Worse, in an attempt to upgrade the firmware on the TPLink, I bricked it, and was suddenly indeed of a decent router.
The problem with routers is that most of them use the 2.4GHz band, which is very prone to interference as everything in your house probably uses it as well. Furthermore, your neighbors also probably use the 2.4GHz channel for their wifi, and soon you're in connectivity hell.
The answer, then, is to get a dual-band router, one that will handle both 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels. You can't just get a 5GHz router, since legacy devices only support 2.4GHz, and chances are you have at least one of those in active use.
My lesson with bricking my TPlink also taught me that I should just rely on the firmware that comes on the router and not mess around with installing open source stuff. The net net is that I ended up with the Asus RT-N66R.
The weird thing about Asus is that rather than have only one product in each category, they have lots of products with the exact same name differing by only one character, but for all purposes there's no difference between the R and the U units, they just get revised at random and it's just pure insanity.
Installing the router was easy, as was configuring it. What you want to do is to separate the 2 SSIDs into 5GHz and 2.4GHz one so that there's clear separation. I then did an internet speed test and wow, ok, now I'm getting all the speed I was promised by comcast, rather than a pathetic performance. The real test came over the next few days as we saw zero dropped internet connections. The router was rock solid, as were connections with the devices.
You can spend lots of time dicking around with equipment or you can just throw money at it. This is one of those cases where throwing money at the problem solved all sorts of problems, and hence the product is highly recommended.
The problem with routers is that most of them use the 2.4GHz band, which is very prone to interference as everything in your house probably uses it as well. Furthermore, your neighbors also probably use the 2.4GHz channel for their wifi, and soon you're in connectivity hell.
The answer, then, is to get a dual-band router, one that will handle both 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels. You can't just get a 5GHz router, since legacy devices only support 2.4GHz, and chances are you have at least one of those in active use.
My lesson with bricking my TPlink also taught me that I should just rely on the firmware that comes on the router and not mess around with installing open source stuff. The net net is that I ended up with the Asus RT-N66R.
The weird thing about Asus is that rather than have only one product in each category, they have lots of products with the exact same name differing by only one character, but for all purposes there's no difference between the R and the U units, they just get revised at random and it's just pure insanity.
Installing the router was easy, as was configuring it. What you want to do is to separate the 2 SSIDs into 5GHz and 2.4GHz one so that there's clear separation. I then did an internet speed test and wow, ok, now I'm getting all the speed I was promised by comcast, rather than a pathetic performance. The real test came over the next few days as we saw zero dropped internet connections. The router was rock solid, as were connections with the devices.
You can spend lots of time dicking around with equipment or you can just throw money at it. This is one of those cases where throwing money at the problem solved all sorts of problems, and hence the product is highly recommended.
Saturday, December 06, 2014
2015 Video Game Reviews
This is the index for video game played and reviewed in 2015. I picked Games of the Year for 2015 in November.
- Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS Vita)
- Final Horizon (PS Vita)
- Infamous: First Light (PS4)
- The Walking Dead: Season 2 (PS4)
- Little Big Planet (PS Vita)
- Defense Grid 2 (PS4)
- CounterSpy (PS Vita)
- Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition (PS4)
- Heavy Rain (PS3)
- Murasaki Baby (PS Vita)
- Monument Valley (Android)
- Smart As (PS Vita)
- Velocity 2X (PS4, PS Vita)
- Sleeping Dogs (PS4)
- The Order 1886 (PS4)
- Deadlight (PC)
- Entwined (PS Vita)
- Max Payne 3 (PC)
- The Last of Us: Left Behind (PS4)
- Never Alone (PS4)
- Call of Duty : Advanced Warfare (PS4)
- Arkham Knight (PS4)
Review: Injustice: Gods Among Us
I picked up Injustice: Gods Among Us for the Vita during a Sony sale for $4.20. As luck would have it, in January, that's going to be a free game on Playstation Plus. But that doesn't matter, since recently I was on a flight that gave me enough time to play through the story mode on the game.
Injustice is a fighting game. For me, that usually is a very frustrating genre, since my fingers and reflexes are not what they once were, and even at my best I wasn't very good at them. This was confirmed for me when I had several tries to do some combos during the tutorial and couldn't make many of them consistently. I don't know to what extent that's because the Vita's buttons are tiny, and that I just suck.
Nevertheless, I went into the story mode and to my surprise the game's set not to be frustratingly difficult! In fact, I think I got through about 30% of the game before I felt the need to turn down the difficulty from "medium" to "easy", which is an unusual experience for me.
The story is pretty good for an excuse for superheroes to beat up on each other. It involves parallel dimensions and an out of control Superman who decides to take over the world. To the game's credit, the story mode doesn't provide ridiculous situations such as Batman beating up Superman in hand to hand combat. (You can do that in the classic battle mode) Each character has signature moves and interesting things to do with the environment, and the story is compelling enough to keep me playing and drain most of the Vita's battery on a 6 hour flight, and the next day my thumbs were still sore.
After you're done with the story, there are still additional content that don't have full cut scenes, but still provide a challenge for the player who wants more. After about 3-4 of those missions it got really hard so I stopped. There's also an on-line versus mode. I have not tried the online mode since I was on the plane when playing this game.
The graphics are pretty, and the Vita definitely gets hot while you're playing indicating that the CPU is pushing very hard. While not a purchase for the full price, I'd recommend it at any price below $10 or you could just wait for PS Plus on your Playstation 4 in January.
Injustice is a fighting game. For me, that usually is a very frustrating genre, since my fingers and reflexes are not what they once were, and even at my best I wasn't very good at them. This was confirmed for me when I had several tries to do some combos during the tutorial and couldn't make many of them consistently. I don't know to what extent that's because the Vita's buttons are tiny, and that I just suck.
Nevertheless, I went into the story mode and to my surprise the game's set not to be frustratingly difficult! In fact, I think I got through about 30% of the game before I felt the need to turn down the difficulty from "medium" to "easy", which is an unusual experience for me.
The story is pretty good for an excuse for superheroes to beat up on each other. It involves parallel dimensions and an out of control Superman who decides to take over the world. To the game's credit, the story mode doesn't provide ridiculous situations such as Batman beating up Superman in hand to hand combat. (You can do that in the classic battle mode) Each character has signature moves and interesting things to do with the environment, and the story is compelling enough to keep me playing and drain most of the Vita's battery on a 6 hour flight, and the next day my thumbs were still sore.
After you're done with the story, there are still additional content that don't have full cut scenes, but still provide a challenge for the player who wants more. After about 3-4 of those missions it got really hard so I stopped. There's also an on-line versus mode. I have not tried the online mode since I was on the plane when playing this game.
The graphics are pretty, and the Vita definitely gets hot while you're playing indicating that the CPU is pushing very hard. While not a purchase for the full price, I'd recommend it at any price below $10 or you could just wait for PS Plus on your Playstation 4 in January.
Friday, December 05, 2014
Review: Hide Me Among The Graves
Hide Me Among The Graves is Tim Powers' sequel to the superb The Stress of Her Regard. While the latter featured Byron, Keats, and Shelley, this novel features the much lesser known Rossettis (Christina, William, Dante, and Maria), Algernon Swinburne, and Edward John Trelawny. The novel shares but two characters with its prequel, John Crawford, who plays only a minor part in that novel, and John Polidori, who acts as a major villain in this one.
The structure of the novel is broken into 3 parts. In the first part, we are introduced to the Rossettis, Crawford, and Susan McKee. Crawford and McKee flee from the Nephilim early on in the novel and have a daughter together, who becomes the subject of John Polidori's attention. The first portion ends with Crawford and the Rossettis figuring out what they're up against, while seemingly failing to rescue Crawford's daughter.
The second part focuses on the characters' attempt to flee the attention on the Nephilim and seemingly succeeding, while the last focuses on their final fight.
While the premise and the delightful interposition of poetry in the text is lovely, this novel doesn't introduce anything new over the prior. Worse, while the characters in The Stress of Her Regard are active and the climax of that novel revolves around a plot to escape the clutches of the Nephilim, too much of Hide Me Among The Graves feels a lot like deus ex machina, with the characters escaping death for instance only by accident.
As such, Hide Me Among The Graves is a lot weaker as a novel and a lot less compelling a read than The Stress of Her Regard. Not a complete waste of time, but definitely disappointing.
The structure of the novel is broken into 3 parts. In the first part, we are introduced to the Rossettis, Crawford, and Susan McKee. Crawford and McKee flee from the Nephilim early on in the novel and have a daughter together, who becomes the subject of John Polidori's attention. The first portion ends with Crawford and the Rossettis figuring out what they're up against, while seemingly failing to rescue Crawford's daughter.
The second part focuses on the characters' attempt to flee the attention on the Nephilim and seemingly succeeding, while the last focuses on their final fight.
While the premise and the delightful interposition of poetry in the text is lovely, this novel doesn't introduce anything new over the prior. Worse, while the characters in The Stress of Her Regard are active and the climax of that novel revolves around a plot to escape the clutches of the Nephilim, too much of Hide Me Among The Graves feels a lot like deus ex machina, with the characters escaping death for instance only by accident.
As such, Hide Me Among The Graves is a lot weaker as a novel and a lot less compelling a read than The Stress of Her Regard. Not a complete waste of time, but definitely disappointing.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Re-read: The Stress of Her Regard
I've long considered The Stress of Her Regard to be Tim Powers' best novel. However, I read it about 20 years ago, and for the longest time the book was out of print, which I thought was criminal.
Well, the rise of the Kindle meant that such books are no longer out of print and also relatively cheap, and unbeknownst to me, there was a "sequel" (set in the same universe but not with the same characters) out last year, so I bought The Stress of Her Regard to re-read.
And wow, the book's as good as it is now as it was 20 years ago when I first read it. It's a vampire novel, but if you're used to cringing at that term because of what recent teenage fashion for angst is, don't. This isn't "vampire for teeny-boppers". Powers merges the greek myths of the Nephilim, vampires, and then brings in the romantic poets John Keats, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelley (yes, he whose wife wrote Frankenstein) into a grand narrative worthy of your time and requiring way too much effort and attention span for the usual vampire crowd.
The story revolves around Michael Crawford, a obgyn who on the eve of his wedding makes the mistake of putting his wedding ring on what he thinks of as a statue. Of course, this turns out to be an invitation to the Nephilim to enter his life, and he ends up fleeing, meeting up with the above mentioned poets who are also haunted by the same type of creatures.
The story then heads into the Alps (and yes, the story is now better for me because I've spent so much time in the Alps and visited Wengen, Kleine Scheidegg, etc) and then Venice. What's beautiful about the story is that like all Powers novels, it ties in with the historical events as well as personas, so you're brought into the life of the romantic poets as well as the events of the Austrian empire in Italy during that time. Powers' take on the tragic lives and deaths of Keats and Shelley has to be read to be appreciated.
What's even better is that Michael and Josephine (the protagonist and female lead) are both "damaged goods", with plenty of baggage and histories of mental disorders. Josephine's a schizophrenic, for instance, and Michael frequently resorts to drinking in order to cope with the horrors the Nephilim have brought into his life.
What's more, the novel's climax is a C-section performed on a guy. Take that, Stephanie Meyer!
Needless to say, this book comes highly recommended. Buy it and read it!
What's more, the novel's climax is a C-section performed on a guy. Take that, Stephanie Meyer!
Needless to say, this book comes highly recommended. Buy it and read it!
Friday, November 14, 2014
2015 Book Reviews
Note: Books of the Year for 2015 have been selected.
Fiction
Fiction
- On Stranger Tides
- The Stress of Her Regard
- Hide Me Among The Graves
- The Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction
- Sand Omnibus
- Joyland
- The Golem and the Jinni
- Indexing
- The Pillars of the Earth
- Uncommon Stock, Version 1.0
- Chaos Quarter
- The Altar Girl
- The Fall of Giants
- The Winter of The World
- Edge of Eternity
- Mistborn
- The Well of Ascension
- Up The Down Staircase
- The Hero of Ages
- Deep Navigation
- Terminal World
- Slow Bullets
- Blue Remembered Earth
- On the Steel Breeze
- The Annihilation Score
- Armada
- Foundation and Chaos
- Foundation's Triumph
- The Martian
- The Rhesus Chart
- Finders Keepers
- Carbide Tipped Pens
- Year's Best SF 10
- The Second Ship
Non-Fiction
- What If?
- Oh Myyy!
- Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview
- Zero to One
- The Marshmallow Test
- The Fifth Discipline
- Console Wars
- On Immunity
- Being Mortal
- Superman
- Mindhunter
- Joss Whedon: A Biography
- The Fox Effect
- Tippi: My Book of Africa
- Isaac Newton
- The Opposite of Spoiled
- French Kids Eat Everything
- Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
- Why Nations Fail
- The Curve of Time
- A Spy Among Friends
- Last Child in the Woods
- Double Cross
- Regional Advantage
Comics
Review: On Stranger Tides
On Stranger Tides is Tim Powers' pirate novel. While it was optioned as a novel for Disney's Pirates of the Carribean movie with the same name, it's plot, characters, atmosphere, and feel are altogether different. For one thing, Powers can actually craft a coherent plot, unlike the screen writers of the above-stated movie.
The novel revolves around Jack Shandy, a passenger on a ship over-run by pirates who becomes pressed into a life of piracy due to circumstances, but stays one by his own volition. The main love interest in the novel is Beth Hurwood, who's accompanying her father a trip. The similarities between the book and the movie include Blackbeard (Edward Thatch) and the Fountain of Youth, but that's about it.
The novel is fairly short and a quick read, though the opening is slow. Nevertheless, by the middle of the novel it'd become compelling. Powers is a master of doing a lot in very few words, and yet getting everything historically correct. His description of naval warfare between sailing ships, managing a storm in a sailboat, and the atmosphere of the Carribean all ring true.
The weakness in the novel is in Beth Hurwood: she functions mostly as a MacGuffin to be rescued, and does not play much of an active role in the novel until the very end. To be honest though, Powers' novels rarely have strong female characters, so you should just know this going in.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this novel: it's a lot of fun, and very well paced. Recommended.
The novel revolves around Jack Shandy, a passenger on a ship over-run by pirates who becomes pressed into a life of piracy due to circumstances, but stays one by his own volition. The main love interest in the novel is Beth Hurwood, who's accompanying her father a trip. The similarities between the book and the movie include Blackbeard (Edward Thatch) and the Fountain of Youth, but that's about it.
The novel is fairly short and a quick read, though the opening is slow. Nevertheless, by the middle of the novel it'd become compelling. Powers is a master of doing a lot in very few words, and yet getting everything historically correct. His description of naval warfare between sailing ships, managing a storm in a sailboat, and the atmosphere of the Carribean all ring true.
The weakness in the novel is in Beth Hurwood: she functions mostly as a MacGuffin to be rescued, and does not play much of an active role in the novel until the very end. To be honest though, Powers' novels rarely have strong female characters, so you should just know this going in.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this novel: it's a lot of fun, and very well paced. Recommended.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Video Games of the Year
For those who are unfamiliar with this blog, I have an annual tradition of picking out the best books I've read over the previous year.
This is the first year I've played enough video games to be able to deliver a similar judgement, but interestingly enough, I've been catching up on about 10 years of not playing video games, so nearly every entry that I go around to finishing has been great, or I wouldn't have bothered playing through to the end. If you ever want to feel like a genre is fantastic, you just have to leave it for 10 years and then come back to only the good ones, with time doing the work of eliminating the dreck that results from Sturgeon's law.
I'll separate the selections by platform, since the pickings have been so rich.
I'll start with the PS3, because it's the oldest platform and has the most games out. It's a great time to buy a PS3, and the wealth of software and media available for it is nothing short of astounding. In many ways, the PS4 is still an inferior machine for the casual user, since it still can't talk to DLNA servers or even play MP4 movies!
By far the most outstanding game on the PS3 is Uncharted Among Thieves. It's a relatively old game, but you can't tell. Newer games look better, but load slower or have long startup times. Compared to its predecessors, however, it's clear that Uncharted Among Thieves has done everything right with respect to pacing, game play, and movie-like action. It's an amazing game and has aged well. If you own a PS3 you need to play this game.
Journey runs a clear second place on the PS3. It's non-violent, not challenging, but immerses the player in the environment far better than any of the other experiences I've tried. It's also not available on any of the other platforms, so it's a clear exclusive for the PS3, and well worth the experience. If you like that type of game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons also stands out, and is a short game that's well worth your time.
On the PS Vita, it's a tough decision for my game of the year. I enjoyed Tearaway, and as a game that fully exploits the physical capabilities of the vita, it is nothing short of amazing. However, Golden Abyss also does a lot of very similar things, and is still a better game for me as I dislike platformers. By far the most addictive genre for me, however, is the desktop tower defense game, and for that, Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate is just too good not to recommend.
Finally, the PS4. Well, I've sampled a bunch of games on it so far. The best one is still Resogun. Over and over again, it is the one game I fire up the PS4 for. Once you have a PS4, however, you might as well get Flower. On the PS3, Flower is overshadowed by Journey, but on the PS4, that doesn't happen and you might as well get to play it at high resolution. It is truly an experience to be savored.
Strangely enough, looking at my list, there's only one PC game on the list, and it's the very old Arkham City. The reality seems to be that the desktop PC isn't in a very inconvenient place in the home for me, and takes a long time to startup and play. It's also not very comfortable compared to playing on the couch, and I'm always tempted to do some work on the PC instead of playing a game. In the future, I'll probably abandon my PC as a gaming platform and stick to the PS4, despite the higher expenses playing on the PS4 entail.
This is the first year I've played enough video games to be able to deliver a similar judgement, but interestingly enough, I've been catching up on about 10 years of not playing video games, so nearly every entry that I go around to finishing has been great, or I wouldn't have bothered playing through to the end. If you ever want to feel like a genre is fantastic, you just have to leave it for 10 years and then come back to only the good ones, with time doing the work of eliminating the dreck that results from Sturgeon's law.
I'll separate the selections by platform, since the pickings have been so rich.
I'll start with the PS3, because it's the oldest platform and has the most games out. It's a great time to buy a PS3, and the wealth of software and media available for it is nothing short of astounding. In many ways, the PS4 is still an inferior machine for the casual user, since it still can't talk to DLNA servers or even play MP4 movies!
By far the most outstanding game on the PS3 is Uncharted Among Thieves. It's a relatively old game, but you can't tell. Newer games look better, but load slower or have long startup times. Compared to its predecessors, however, it's clear that Uncharted Among Thieves has done everything right with respect to pacing, game play, and movie-like action. It's an amazing game and has aged well. If you own a PS3 you need to play this game.
Journey runs a clear second place on the PS3. It's non-violent, not challenging, but immerses the player in the environment far better than any of the other experiences I've tried. It's also not available on any of the other platforms, so it's a clear exclusive for the PS3, and well worth the experience. If you like that type of game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons also stands out, and is a short game that's well worth your time.
On the PS Vita, it's a tough decision for my game of the year. I enjoyed Tearaway, and as a game that fully exploits the physical capabilities of the vita, it is nothing short of amazing. However, Golden Abyss also does a lot of very similar things, and is still a better game for me as I dislike platformers. By far the most addictive genre for me, however, is the desktop tower defense game, and for that, Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate is just too good not to recommend.
Finally, the PS4. Well, I've sampled a bunch of games on it so far. The best one is still Resogun. Over and over again, it is the one game I fire up the PS4 for. Once you have a PS4, however, you might as well get Flower. On the PS3, Flower is overshadowed by Journey, but on the PS4, that doesn't happen and you might as well get to play it at high resolution. It is truly an experience to be savored.
Strangely enough, looking at my list, there's only one PC game on the list, and it's the very old Arkham City. The reality seems to be that the desktop PC isn't in a very inconvenient place in the home for me, and takes a long time to startup and play. It's also not very comfortable compared to playing on the couch, and I'm always tempted to do some work on the PC instead of playing a game. In the future, I'll probably abandon my PC as a gaming platform and stick to the PS4, despite the higher expenses playing on the PS4 entail.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Books of the Year 2014
I read 31 books this year (not counting comic books, magazines, etc), which was unusually low. Part of this was that a portion of my time went to video games, and another part of the reason was that for a large part of the year I lost my Kindle, which had a direct and immediate impact on the number of books I was able to read.
Fortunately, the quality of non-fiction books were very high, and I consider Capital in the 21st Century now just the book of the year, but quite possibly the book of the decade. The book has been widely read, reviewed, and mostly misunderstood, even by luminaries such as Bill Gates. As such, there's no substitute to reading this book for yourself. I cannot sufficiently urge an intelligent reader who cares about the structure of society with even a modicum of curiosity to read this book right away.
All Joy And No Fun is also the best alternative to the standard parenting book you can find today. I highly recommend it to all parents, and especially to the moms out there. If you read only one parenting book, read Brain Rules for Baby, but All Joy And No Fun should be the very next one.
On the fiction side, however, this has been a bleak year. Looking at my list of books I read this year, the best fiction book (and even Tim O'Reilly would admit that the book was mostly "faction") is The Things They Carried. I read that book in 1987, and it's still holds up on re-reading. If it's not in your library it should be.
But the best new (to me) fiction book was Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of the Dark. The problem with this as a selection is that it wasn't even close. None of the other (new-to-me) books I read this year were even remotely a contender, and if I left this book off the list, I would declare a no-winner situation rather than be forced to pick amongst the remaining novels. That's pretty bad.
If there was a particularly great book you read this year but that I haven't, please recommend it. It's sad to think that my usual sources of book recommendations are failing me this year. Piketty's book makes up for the disappointing novels, but I would hate to see this trend continue.
Fortunately, the quality of non-fiction books were very high, and I consider Capital in the 21st Century now just the book of the year, but quite possibly the book of the decade. The book has been widely read, reviewed, and mostly misunderstood, even by luminaries such as Bill Gates. As such, there's no substitute to reading this book for yourself. I cannot sufficiently urge an intelligent reader who cares about the structure of society with even a modicum of curiosity to read this book right away.
All Joy And No Fun is also the best alternative to the standard parenting book you can find today. I highly recommend it to all parents, and especially to the moms out there. If you read only one parenting book, read Brain Rules for Baby, but All Joy And No Fun should be the very next one.
On the fiction side, however, this has been a bleak year. Looking at my list of books I read this year, the best fiction book (and even Tim O'Reilly would admit that the book was mostly "faction") is The Things They Carried. I read that book in 1987, and it's still holds up on re-reading. If it's not in your library it should be.
But the best new (to me) fiction book was Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of the Dark. The problem with this as a selection is that it wasn't even close. None of the other (new-to-me) books I read this year were even remotely a contender, and if I left this book off the list, I would declare a no-winner situation rather than be forced to pick amongst the remaining novels. That's pretty bad.
If there was a particularly great book you read this year but that I haven't, please recommend it. It's sad to think that my usual sources of book recommendations are failing me this year. Piketty's book makes up for the disappointing novels, but I would hate to see this trend continue.
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