University of YouTube

The check-engine light on my daughter's Jeep Cherokee came on and so I had her use my OBD2 reader to pull the code from the computer. Sometimes the code is a $2000 problem and other times it is a $20 one. She checked the code and found it to be closer to $20 than $2000. The code she pulled is P0128 which indicates that the engine never gets up to the proper operating temperature. Generally this means the thermostat needs to be replaced.

There are a number of tests to verify the problem. If the car is overheating or running cold, that is a good indicator the thermostat is bad. In my daughter's case it is running cold, which means that the thermostat has failed in the open position, which is what it is engineered to do. The final test is to feel the hoses going to and from the engine. If they are both cold, then it is not a temperature sensor problem. My daughter ran through the diagnostic and we are sure the thermostat needs to be replaced.

Now we have two options. We can take the car to a trusted mechanic and pay $300 to have them replace the part or we can buy the part from the auto store and do the work ourselves. Like most of us, my daughter is not made of money and would prefer to save $250 and do the work ourselves. Thermostats generally run about $10 but the Jeep Cherokee requires one to replace the entire thermostat housing at a cost of around $50. It is $42 if you buy an aftermarket part or $63 if you buy the original part from the dealership. At such a low cost differential, I suggested my daughter use an original part.

This evening I spent some time going through YouTube videos on how to pull off the old part and replace the new one. Unfortunately Jeep did a very poor job of making the repair easy. You have to remove a number of different pieces and have useful socket-set attachments, all of which I have. After reviewing the videos, I know it will take a couple of hours but is not an overwhelmingly difficult job. The trick will be to remove as many parts as possible and being able to work hands into cramped spaces.

One nice thing about YouTube is there are a number of do-it-yourself auto mechanics willing to show you the steps for engine repair. They will also show you various tips and tricks to help make the job easier. If you review the videos and feel the job is beyond your skill set, then feel free to back away and leave it to qualified professionals.

A Great Story About Apple

I spent the day in a special meeting where we had a former Apple employee share a very interesting story about the development of the original iPhone. It isn't protected by any confidentiality agreements and so I thought I would share it in my blog to help illustrate the point of making proper technology decisions.

Many years ago Apple decided to create a new product called the iPhone. They didn't make phones at the time but had an idea of what smartphones should look like. They had a hardware division that would create the physical device. They also had a software division that needed to build software for this new piece of hardware. The software team had to decide the basic operating system that they would use. One group felt they should take the existing operating system running on their computers and modify it so it would run on the much less powerful hardware. Another group wanted to start with a different operating system that could already run on it.

If you take the short-term approach, there is a lot less work involved in using an operating system that could already run on the planned hardware. The downside is that Apple would then have to maintain separate operating systems for their computer and mobile devices. Taking the long-term approach meant doing more work in the beginning but simplifying maintenance and code updates in the future.

Ultimately the long-term approach won out and proved to be the better decision. This made it much easier for Apple to switch their computers from the Intel platform to the same ARM platform they run in their phones. It also shows that taking a long-term approach opens up more possibilities for future product development.

Cyber Monday and the Wrong Flight

I am on a flight today headed back to Salt Lake City. I picked today to fly trying to avoid the tail-end of Thanksgiving travel. I also knew I could get some important work done on the flight with the help of in-flight Internet. I'm glad I planned to work as the plane's entertainment service isn't working. They've reset the system 3 times now without success. It is kind of annoying but it means I can focus more of my attention on getting work done. Sometimes you pick the right flight where there are empty seats next to you or something amazing happens. Today is not that day.

Today also happens to be Cyber Monday when all of the online stores have their biggest sales. Once again my e-mail inbox received a flood of messages encouraging me to spend money on potential Christmas gifts. Once again I am not really interested in spending money. It would probably be a good idea to come up with a list of gifts for those on my list before Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around. Then I could take advantage of some of the deals. Fortunately the discounts seem to stick around up until the big day. Then everything really goes on sale.

One sale I knew would happen today is that from the airlines. I received a special e-mail from both Alaska and Delta as those are the two carriers I use the most. I'm sure I also got one from Southwest but skipped over it as I have not been flying them recently. Don't get me wrong, they are a great airline with spectacular deals. I just prefer nonstop flights and Southwest seems to have multiple legs whenever I want to go somewhere. That doesn't mean I don't check their schedule first as it serves as a great baseline price.

I also received a lot of e-mails from hotel chains that I tend to use for business travel. There are some great deals out there. Unfortunately, for my personal travel I have been scouring AirBnB for most of my overnight accommodations recently. For about the same price as a hotel, I can get a living room and a kitchen. It is only business trips where I use hotels any more. Since the company is paying for it, I don't mind staying in hotels and eating out at restaurants.

Speaking of business travel I should probably get back to work. There is a lot going on this week and I need to get ready for all of the events. Then I can wind down for the Christmas break.

Video Games for Christmas

I have gotten a lot of requests for idea about video games as gifts for Christmas. As it is that time of year, I thought I would provide some ideas for those looking to get games for those who enjoy them. Instead of grouping all games into the same category, I will do a bit of categorizing as it makes things somewhat easier.

Games for Kids

I often post about how I enjoy playing video games with my grandson. I have a few granddaughters too and so that is what I am using to make this list. While I don't see my granddaughters excited right now, it won't take long before these games are appropriate.

• Knack and Knack II - I really like these games for those just starting to play video games. The story is interesting for all ages and your opponents are goblins instead of other people. The best part about the games is that if the child has a tough time navigating the map, the child is brought forward to where the couch-coop parent is on the screen. Most importantly, the games have been out awhile and you can find a copy of each for around $15. Unfortunately they are only available on the PlayStation consoles.
• Mario Party - With my last suggestion being a PlayStation exclusive, I thought I should offer an alternative to those who prefer the Nintendo Switch. Every time I go over to my grandson's house, he wants me to play Mario Party. The games end up running about a half hour but he loves it. My 4-year old granddaughter also loves to play. Nintendo has some great games which is why they have managed to remain so popular. The only downside to the game is that it is rather expensive with a cost of around $55.
• Lego Harry Potter Collection - My kids grew up playing with Lego blocks, listening to me read the Harry Potter books, and watching the Harry Potter movies. My grandkids are following in my kids' footsteps and so I started playing the Lego Harry Potter game with my grandson. He loves it and waits about 2 seconds before asking to play it when he walks into my house. I got the game for free with my PS Plus subscription but it is only $20 if you want to buy it as it has been out a while. My only complaint is that if you stop the game in the middle of a mission, you are forced to restart it instead of having frequent save points. 
• Lego Star Wars Skywalker Saga - This is a game that my grandson plays with his dad and loves it. In anticipation of having grandkids over at my house during the Holiday Season, I picked up a copy for less than $20. I am a huge fan of the movies and look forward to playing the Lego version of the game.

Games for Teenagers and Adults

I must confess that I have stopped playing video games on my own and so I am merely sharing the games that people around me have asked me to help get for those older children on their Christmas lists (adults included). Some of these recommendations will look familiar but I hope to have a well-rounded list.

• Ghost of Tsushima - This one is a game that my youngest son and I both enjoyed playing. My oldest son just can't seem to get into it though. He asked us why we like it so much and the only thing I can think of is that both of us have been to Japan where my oldest son has not. I actually took his younger brother on my older son's birthday while leaving the older son back at home for college finals. I think he might still be mad about that. The reason I like the game is that it reminds me of the very-well manicured gardens and temples in Japan. It is an older game and you can find it on the PS5 for $25. Unfortunately it is a PlayStation exclusive.
• Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, and Far Cry 5 - I have enjoyed all 3 of those games and they are available on more than just the PlayStation consoles. You can also get all 3 games in the Far Cry Insanity Bundle for less than $20. I have spent countless hours playing the Far Cry games and think this is a great deal that will last long past the Holiday break.
• God of War Ragnarok - I have a copy of this game but have yet to play it. It is another PlayStation exclusive and have helped quite a few of my friends get a copy of the game. If you don't have someone at Sony that can help get a discounted copy, it can be found for $30 on the PS4 and $40 on the PS5. I thoroughly enjoyed the predecessor game and spent many hours entertained by it. I can only assume this version is close to the original.
• Spider-Man 2 - This is another game I have not yet played. I started playing the original but stopped halfway through because of COVID. One would think that isolation would have enabled me to complete the game but without the need to travel to the Bay Area, I had other things to occupy my evenings instead of video games. I did enjoy the original and have enjoyed watching my youngest son as he platinumed this one. This is another one of those PlayStation exclusives and as it released recently is rather pricy at $70.
• Hogwarts Legacy - This is a game available on more than just the PlayStation and is also a game that my sons' wives have enjoyed. Unfortunately I have not played it but might pick it up this Christmas because it comes so highly recommended. It has been out a while and you can find it for $30 at Walmart. Given the glowing recommendations from both of my daughters-in-law, I recommend you give it a shot if you are a fan of the Harry Potter movies and books.
• Jedi Survivor - This is a game from Electronic Arts that is cross platform and picks up where Jedi Fallen Order leaves off. Both of my sons really enjoyed the game and I am hoping it shows up under my Christmas tree. I enjoyed Fallen Order and am excited to give the sequel a try. My youngest son warned me that he thought the original to be better but still recommended this one. Game Stop has a Black-Friday special for only $30 that you should be able to find for awhile longer.

Not everyone will want video games for Christmas and so this may not fit everyone on your list. If you do have people who like to play, I hope this gives you some ideas. It is also important to note that I enjoy action-adventure games and so I have not recommended any sports ones, which are popular with a lot of gamers. I always suggest asking about what people's favorite games are and then looking for sequels or similar games. Then you are sure to get the right gift. If you still aren't sure, a gift card may be the better choice. Then that person on your list can ensure he or she got the right game.

Avoiding Stores on Black Friday

While some people like my sister live to find great deals on Black Friday, I am one of those people that avoid shopping at all costs on this day. This year's Black Friday is coming to a close and I can safely say that I did not visit any stores. I didn't purchase anything online either. Instead I spent some time outside hiking, spending time with family, and doing things around the house.

My wife took some downtime today to do some online shopping for me. She thinks she is done with buying Christmas gifts for me. Unfortunately I have not even started for her. I know what she needs and wants so it should be easy once I find some time to get the gift purchases taken care of.

I did notice an unusual amount of e-mail in my inbox today. I had so much e-mail I had to empty my inbox twice. I had the usual mix of outdoor equipment, guitars, and consumer electronics solicitations, Alaska airlines knew my one weakness and sent me information on their BOGO sale. That means they have airline tickets available at a two-for-one price. The last time they did that, I bought tickets to Hawaii and climbed Mauna Kea with my wife. I mentioned the sale to my wife and she told me to buy tickets to places we know we are headed next year. Where's the fun in that? Fortunately the sale only lasts today and if I can hold off experimenting with flights, I'll be good . . . until Cyber Monday when I am sure they will offer the same deal again.

Smartphone Photos

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving when people will sit down at the dinner table and eat an incredible amount of food all in the name of giving thanks for our many blessings. In order to prepare for the festivities, my youngest son and I went for a rather lengthy hike today. We covered about 10.2 miles and wore my son's dog out. The dog is sleeping soundly on the couch and snoring loudly.

I had hoped to pick up a trail map from the visitor's center of the state park where we hiked today but found it closed because of the coming holiday. Instead I opted to take a photo of the map with my smartphone so I always had it with us even if we lost phone service on the hike, which we did. While I prefer to have a piece of paper for a map, the photo served us well.

This is not the first time I have used a picture on my phone to replace a map. It won't be the last either. As I think about it, a phone picture is a lot better for the environment as paper maps often turn into litter require a lot more resources to create.

A few years ago I took my kids and their spouses to Moab for a family vacation. One of the activities for the trip included rock climbing. We had a guidebook for the area we planned to climb. As we scoped out the area, a couple of other climbers not familiar with the area came and took a smartphone picture from the guidebook of another climbing area next to ours. It worked out well for all. They went to an area away from us so we didn't have to compete for climbing routes and the photo provided important information needed for the climbs.

Taking a picture of a map at the beginning of your hike or of pages out of a guidebook allow you to carry important information in the palm of your hand. All it takes is a little practice on using the photo and a phone with a charged battery. After all, the phone won't do you any good if it won't turn on.

Printing 3D Christmas Tree Ornaments

Recently my wife found some interesting Christmas-tree ornaments in a print catalog. She showed them to me and I told her I could 3D print them for significantly less money. While I had filament that would have worked, I ordered special stuff with metallic flakes in it. I picked up a spool of gold flake and a spool of silver flake. Once it arrived, I printed up an ornament very similar to what my wife found in the catalog. It only cost me about 30 cents.

The ornament turned out well but I got to thinking there is so much more I could do and I still had a lot of filament left over. I found a few more designs and gave the prints a try. The first one turned out a lot different than expected. The pictures showed it with a lot of intricate cutout work. That means someone used a sharp razor to remove some of the plastic. I didn't want to do that so I found another ornament. It is a beautiful 8-point snowflake with a nativity scene in the middle of it.

I had been using the gold filament and rather than swap it for the silver, I printed a test ornament. It turned out very regal. Then I swapped colors and the silver turned out amazing. I shared it with my son who also has a 3D printer. He took it one step further and scaled the ornament so he could print 4 at once. My one ornament is so large it takes up most of the print bed so I can only print one at a time. Scaling it down to 75 percent is all it took to increase that number to 4.

This week is Thanksgiving and my son plans to hand 12 of the ornaments out to his extended family so they can decorate the tree with them this year. It is a little thing to help start the Holiday Season right. I'll be interested to hear how the ornaments are received.

Coding in Python

I have a new project at work that has me interested in doing some Python programing. I always say that Python is one of those languages where even the largest programs are only 50 lines long. That is a bit of an exaggeration but most of the code I have seen fall into that categorization. The reason programs can be so small is because there is an ever-growing list of libraries to help. If you are trying to read in a comma separated values (CSV) list and process it, somebody wrote a library for it. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Instead you can use the CSV library and focus on what you need to do.

The project at work is kind of simple. We just need to read in a CSV file and apply a hashing algorithm to one of the columns in the file. Then we will write the resulting modified file into a database. As with the CSV library, there is a library to do the hashing for us. There is also a library to write to the database. Furthermore we have source code from one of the teams in Japan that serves as a great sample code to follow.

There is another engineer on the team who is responsible for writing the code and I am merely to act as an advisor. We started by reviewing the sample program and I stepped through each line of code with my coworker. At first I felt glad that he is responsible for doing the coding on the project. The more we reviewed though, the more I felt I wanted to take a shot at doing the work. I don't think it would take me more than a day and I think I would do a great job. Unfortunately that would be overstepping my bounds and my job really is to serve as a mentor. I wonder if it would be okay to add a piece or two to the sample code we already have as there is one difference that I think would be fun to address. Tomorrow I have a progress meeting and will see how far the other engineer has gotten. Hopefully he has figured it out on his own. If not, I'll play with it on Tuesday.

Sometimes You Gotta Get Outdoors

Next week is Thanksgiving and when getting outside becomes more difficult. With all of the technology in our lives, we can keep ourselves entertained while hibernating during the winter months. Unfortunately this may be bad for some. This is the time of the year when seasonal depression kicks in and being outside can help cure it in some instances.

My kids are among those that benefit from being outdoors. It is probably a good thing we spend a lot of the winter skiing as I don't know how else to embrace winter and enjoy being outside. My youngest daughter is noticeably happier after spending a cold winter day teaching little groms how ski. Last year with all of the road closures on the way to Alta because of avalanche danger, she had to find other ways to get outside and keep from getting down.

Today I spent some time with my youngest son. This morning he felt rather down and so we headed outside for a walk to the donut shop. If that doesn't cheer you up, I don't know what will. Unfortunately he still wasn't his jovial self and so we put on jackets this afternoon and headed outside. We walked to a nearby park and played a round of disc golf. I'm not sure if my comedic skills brightened his day or just being outside did the trick. Afterwards he felt much better and we all enjoyed being around him more.

I know you would expect different advice from someone that used to work for a major video game company. After all, shouldn't I be telling you to play the latest and greatest game as it will make you feel better? Nope, the reality is that we all need sunshine. It is tougher to get in the winter but no less important. When you feel yourself getting down on a cold winter day, put down the donut and hot chocolate, put on a nice-warm jacket, and spend sometime outside. Remember there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. 

Children and Work Video Calls

I generally don't like to have any meetings on Fridays as that allows me one day of the week to get actual work done. Today I had 2. Fortunately both occurred this morning so I could get them taken care of and not have to worry about them later in the day.

During my first meeting I had one of my granddaughters walk into my office just as the meeting started. She is definitely cute and so I didn't mind introducing her to my fellow coworkers. She sat on my lap for a bit and then once she got a little fidgety, I sent her back to her parents and continued the meeting alone. Then at the end of my meeting my coworker thanked me for introducing my granddaughter.

This experience got me thinking about how appropriate it is to include small children in work calls. While you would never bring a kid to work except on that one day a year where it is allowed and expected, everyone is fairly lenient with work-from-home policies. It is not unexpected to see a dog or family member in the background on occasion. I am very forgiving when my coworkers include a fussy child in the meeting.

There are certain meetings where you would not want to include children, such as performance reviews or important meetings with upper management. In those cases, I highly recommend doing all you can to make sure there are no interruptions even if it means sending family to a restaurant or movie.

Ultimately we should do all that we can to keep small children from distracting work meetings. Sometimes it can't be avoided though as this morning I didn't even know my granddaughter had followed me into my office. When that happens, roll with it as inconspicuously as possible. Who knows, the child may have a positive experience and follow in your career footsteps. 

An Interesting Travel Site

I've been flying a lot lately and had an interesting conversation with a guy in the Salt Lake City airport. He is a truck driver who's engine and transmission broke down. Instead of waiting around town for a week in Bozeman, Montana, he jumped a flight home to Atlanta. I figured that would be an expensive plane ticket to buy at the last minute. Furthermore he doesn't plan to fly back to his truck until everything is fixed. While it is impolite to ask about how much someone paid for an airline ticket I did remark that it must have cost a lot. He told me he only paid $200 and that he uses Skiplagged to help find great deals on airfare.

I got to my destination and the next day looked into the site. While he may have said "Skip Lagged," I heard "Skip Jack" and so that is how I started my search. Fortunately the correct site came up. On the home page they claim to specialize in ridiculous travel deals nobody else can find. They are not wrong. I did a few searches and it amazed me at how inexpensive last-minute flight deals can be on the site. I did a search from Salt Lake to Columbus, Ohio for the next day and the price came in $200 less than the cheapest flight on the same airline's own website.

Now for the fine print. Skiplagged gets you the cheapest flight available. That means that you probably won't get a seat assignment until you get to the airport. If you are traveling alone, that isn't much of a problem but it becomes one if you are traveling with someone you want to sit next to. Furthermore you are probably getting stuck in a middle seat. You can also assume your loyalty account won't be credited with many frequent flyer miles, if any.

While I really am most interested in the site for air travel, Skiplagged also has great deals on hotels. I didn't do much research on those but what browsing I did on the home page looked like great prices. The next time I need to book a hotel for personal travel, I will give it a shot and see how well the prices really are.

I definitely won't be using Skiplagged for any business travel. I will also think twice about using it for when I am flying with my wife. However if I am footing the bill for a quick trip at the last minute where I am alone, it will be the first place I look.

Not Everyone is Who they Seem on the Internet

When my youngest son discovered the power of the Internet back in high school, he trusted everyone to be who they said they were. I didn't and felt the innocent young woman my son started chatting with might really be some middle-aged man. My son didn't believe me but agreed he couldn't definitively prove me wrong and stopped talking with her.

I have had a lot of experience with people not being who they say they are. It is pretty easy to fool someone into thinking you are significantly different than you really are. Don't believe me, look at the number of anecdotal stories of people showing up on first dates with connections that don't look anything like their picture. I'll be honest, if I needed to create an online dating profile, I might Photoshop myself some hair. Fortunately I am happily married and don't need an online-dating profile.

In the past, I have also received e-mails from a number of African royalty asking for help recovering significant assets. Fortunately we all know that these e-mails are scams and not to be trusted. That doesn't stop certain criminals from trying new tactics that are just variations on this theme. Perhaps you have received an e-mail from a name that looks familiar and asking for help. My dad recently got an e-mail from a supposed grandchild that didn't exist. While there are a lot of grandchildren in the family, there are not so many that my dad doesn't remember them all.

Lately there are a lot of criminals posing to be law enforcement. Perhaps you have seen an e-mail telling you there is a warrant for your arrest. The message goes on to say that you can get out of trouble by paying a fine using gift cards. Should you ever be asked to pay a fine with a restaurant or store gift card, take a second to stop and think about it. Nobody ever asks fines to be paid with gift cards. You can ignore the message.

Some past scams have been obviously fake but criminals are getting more clever. All it takes is a fact or two to convince you someone really is who they say they are when that could be false. That is why it is so important to guard your personal information. Treat it like gold as that is how cyber-criminals view it. I also recommend a healthy amount of skepticism as there are a lot of fakes on the Internet. It is in your best interest to challenge identities and ask for more information from someone simply to verify his or her identity. If the answers don't match reality, it is okay to stop communicating.

Technology Can't Compete with Mother Nature

Mankind has achieved some really amazing things. Just thinking about all the technological advancements that allow me to post to this blog illustrates some of those achievements. Looking at advances in transportation, housing, food production, and many other areas leads one to believe that we can do a lot.

Tuesday we had a nice snowstorm here in Utah and so I decided to drive up to Alta Ski Area on Wednesday morning before work and see if I could make a few turns before the lifts start running in earnest. In addition to snow, Tuesday's storm ushered in colder temperatures and Alta has started making snow. Making snow is a fairly simple process where you spray tiny water droplets in front of a large-powerful fan that keeps the water in the air long enough to freeze before it hits the ground. The key to making snow is having cold enough temperatures.

I put on all my equipment and started hiking up a run called Corkscrew. It is the same run I hike at the beginning of every season and Alta is kind enough to allow people like me the chance to do so. They also have their snow makers cranking out snow so skiers don't have to worry about rocks in the middle of the run. The only problem is that you don't want to spend too much time in front of the snow makers as it can be cold and wet. During the course of my hike, I passed no fewer than 5 snow makers blowing snow 50 to 100 feet in the air.

Man-made snow has a much different consistency than natural snow. It is great for a base layer on runs that are skied frequently as it is more ice than Mother Nature's soft-fluffy flakes. The ice is more durable and does not get scraped off the mountain nearly as easily. The downside is that it is ice and not very fun to ski. I would much rather have natural snow fall from the sky and get compressed by hoards of skiers. Still the technology does allow us early skiing when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate.

As I hiked up the trail, I saw the remnants of Tuesday's storm and marveled at the uniform consistency. The snow blanketed the entire mountain without the need of strategically-placed machines. Even though Alta's snow makers cranked out a lot of fresh snow, it paled in comparison to what Mother Nature provided. Yes mankind can do some amazing things but we still have a long ways to go to catch up to naturally occurring phenomenon.

Start Small and Test Thoroughly

This morning I attended a training meeting from one of our vendors where they talked about a number of their product offerings. They highlighted the various tools available and when you would use one versus another. As I listened to the different options, I realized that a small proof-of-concept implementation is really the best way to gain experience with the various tools.

There are a number of recent examples where engineers didn't understand the technology decisions they made and failed miserably. The big one that comes to my mind is the original healthcare.gov website. On the first day it immediately crashed because of all the traffic. Comedians and late-night-talk-show hosts used it as joke material for a long time claiming they should have hired porn-site developers who know how to create high-traffic websites. Another service that had issues when it started is Disney+. Fortunately they had a much easier time scaling up to meet customer demand.

Starting small and testing thoroughly is not reserved for building computer systems. It is a principle I use in my own investing. Lately I have been looking at buying dividend stocks that pay periodic cash simply for owning it. While most companies pay quarterly dividends, there are some that pay monthly. That sounds pretty good doesn't it? Well you do have to be careful. I found one stock that is paying the equivalent of 25% annually. Instead of dumping a lot of money into it, I bought a few shares and watched it carefully. Yes, I received my monthly dividend but the price of the stock dropped more than the dividend paid. It dropped so much, the company did a reverse 5 to 1 split. That means instead of owning 10 shares of the stock, I now only own 2. Furthermore, the stock continues to fall. This is why I am glad I didn't dump thousands of dollars into it.

I have had some success with other dividend stocks and that is because I have started small. If I see one performing well, I reinvest in that same stock when I receive the periodic dividend. I am using now to learn what strategies work and not listen to over-hyped ones that don't. My hope is that I'll have it figured out when it comes time to retire and my income is based on my investments.

Moving Off Daylight Savings, Again?

Early Sunday morning, those of us that live in states that play the Daylight Savings game got to adjust our clocks and gain an extra hour of sleep. That assumes that you didn't game the system and stay up an extra hour, which I did not. I went to sleep at my normal time. I had hoped I would wake up 8 hours later, which would mean my wake-up time would be an hour earlier. Nope, I slept for 9 hours and got an extra hour of sleep. It felt good.

Most of the clocks in my house adjust automatically but there are a few like the microwave or oven that need to be fixed manually. I also have to adjust the clock in my truck and my wife needs to adjust the clock in her car. It is not a big chore but it does take a few minutes.

The larger problem for me is that I work for Sony, which is a massive international company. Japan does not follow Daylight Savings and so all of my meetings with headquarters get screwed up. Some meetings that used to start at 6pm now start at 5pm. Meetings that are set up by colleagues in the United States adjust with the semi-annual time change and stay at the same time. For those with tightly-packed meeting schedules, it means double bookings and the need to revisit the calendar.

I saw an article in National Geographic about the history of Daylight Savings and why we continue to practice it. While it is merely a hassle for most of us in the United States, the article pointed out that it does cause conflict with other parts of the world. I can attest to that point. 

We were not supposed to go back to standard time this past Sunday as a bill made it through one half of Congress that would have kept the country on Daylight Savings permanently. Unfortunately the bill stalled in the other half of Congress and so we moved our clocks back an hour. We'll have to see if the two halves of Congress ever get on the same page and decide to agree on something. For now, I am not holding my breath.

Internet on a Plane

I have been traveling a lot with recent trips to Alaska, Mexico, and Hawaii. This has given me the chance to test Internet conditions for a lot of different environments including on a cruise ship. I spend all day working in front of a computer and while the device is important, an Internet connection is usually required to remain effective.

So why do I need an Internet connection? I spend a lot of time communicating with my fellow employees. E-mail is good for this but I also use Microsoft Teams and the messaging included with it. I can live without those connections for only a short amount of time before people begin to worry. I also spend a lot of time working on shared documents. While I may have a local copy that I can edit on a plane, it sure is nice to have my changes seen immediately by others working on the document also.

Delta Airlines has started offering free Internet connections to all of the passengers that are members of their frequent flyer program. You don't have be any special status to use the service, just a member of the program. I gave it a try on a recent trip and discovered it works well. Unfortunately you cannot make voice or video calls but you can use it for e-mail, instant messaging, and editing shared documents. Delta claims that it is fast enough to watch a streaming movie and so I don't see why one wouldn't be able to use it for video calls other than the FAA regulation that prohibits it. I did notice the service felt choppy in some instances and I am not sure how the upload speed is so it may be a prohibiting factor.

I also had the chance to check out Alaska Airline's Internet service on my recent trip to Hawaii. While I flew out on a Sunday, I returned on a Thursday and worked on the plane as I flew home. I made sure to let my boss know I wouldn't be available for a meeting during my flight time. Unfortunately the service is not free for everyone. As a T-mobile customer, I had an hour of free Internet service which I never tried. However I did set up texting from my phone and remained in contact with people during the flight.

The overall lesson learned from using Internet on a plane is that as long as I don't have any meetings, it is a viable option to remain productive. Unfortunately for me, I generally have meetings daily and so it is probably impossible to take a day to fly somewhere and count it as a work day. That is something I will need to remember as I make plans for future travel.