The Magic of 71

This makes my 9th year of writing 71 blog posts for the year. So what is magic about the number 71? The first year I started writing in my blog, I wrote 71 posts. The next year I felt it appropriate to write the same number. That trend has continued for 9 years now. So if you ever wonder why I have the same number of posts every year, it is just because it is a good goal to shoot for. Otherwise I am afraid I would write less and less each year.

I am amazed at the varying topics I write about and am excited to see what the new year has in store. Hopefully there will be some really fun video games. I would also like to see some really useful technology. Will it be with drones or robots? I don't know but am excited to find out. Until then, enjoy the end of 2017 and I wish you a Happy New Year.

Vinyl Records

Now that Christmas is over I can share a gift that I picked up for my wife: a record player. Naturally I also had to get a record for her to play. I recently received the Top Gun soundtrack as a vinyl record and so I threw that in with the record player and wrapped them both together.

On Christmas morning, my wife opened the gift and liked the record player. My kids, on the other hand, had never even seen one before. They had only heard about them. When compact discs first emerged, we were all told that they did a better job of reproducing the sound than cassette tapes and vinyl records. Everyone believed that to the point that those older forms of media almost completely disappeared. Now the trend is reversing and experts are saying that analog signals provided by a record are superior to digital signals provided by streaming services, mp3 files, and CD audio discs. Personally I believe that record companies are figuring out a way to become relevant again and are bringing back vinyl. Will it last, I'm not sure but I did get a record player for my wife.

My wife is not the only one that wanted a record player for Christmas. My oldest son's sister-in-law also wanted and got one. My son enjoyed listening to it on Christmas morning as he spent time with his wife's family. It is a more basic one than my wife's and so when we finally set up the one I got, it blew him away that the tone arm moved by itself when I started the record. I had to laugh as I explained that this is not new technology. I find it funny that an electronics device phased out 20 years ago seems amazing to my children. They say that if you wait long enough, old becomes new and that is the case with vinyl records.

A Quick Review of Ubisoft's Steep Video Game

A few days ago I found myself with some spare time at home alone and so I loaded up Ubisoft's Steep video game on my PS4. I started playing it and wanted to provide a quick review before moving on to my next winter break game. I don't want to keep playing the game right now because it is something that will appeal to me more in the summer when I can't ski and need a good snow escape.

The game does a good job simulating snow. It is one of the best I have seen. The Frozen Wilds DLC from Horizon Zero Dawn looks very similar and this is because of the graphics processing power of the latest generation consoles. Otherwise it plays very similarly to any of the other skiing and snowboarding games that have been around for a decade. You have a number of challenges where you try to beat times or get scored for tricks. My first challenge was to beat a specific tine down a course. I also had to fly through a wing-suit course in another one. Something new that I did was to follow another skier and try to stay behind her as she went off cliffs and through trees. I enjoyed it a lot.

Steep is a great video game for anyone. You don't have to worry about violence or nudity. It has an ESRB rating of T for Teen because of language but I have yet to come across any. I am a fan of Ubisoft games and play a lot of them. This is definitely one I will keep playing. I will just wait until the summer months before finishing it. You can find the game for around $25 if you look for a deal and it is worth that price.

Bad Weather

Scandinavian countries have a saying, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." My youngest daughter works for an outdoor clothing retail store and she loves to use that saying on days like today where it is wet and cold outside. A lot of people chuckle and think she is just trying to sell really good snow jackets. Sometimes it even works.

I love wet and cold days like today for several reasons. It means there is snow in the mountains and this year we need a lot more snow. This morning I got up and was pleasantly surprised by 6-inches of fresh snow for my morning skiing. I also didn't feel guilty about seeing a movie in the middle of the day. Bad weather just makes it easier to stay inside. Now I am back from the movie and about to begin a nice long video-game session.

Sometimes a cold-wet day can be a bit of a drag, but not today. Instead of being sad because I can't go outside, I am using it as an excuse to stay inside and do all of those fun things that one does when the days are short and the nights long. Hopefully you are enjoying the weather where you are too, no matter the conditions outside. And remember that if you have to be outside, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

WiFi at Alta Ski Resort

Yesterday I decided I would spend my day working from Alta Ski resort instead of at home. Normally I would have gone up in the morning, done a bit of skiing, and then come home to work. Instead I drove up with my daughter who teaches skiing there. Upon arrival, I immediately headed to the Albion Grill where I set up camp for the day. I sat at the window and looked out at the spectacular mountains. I found a place where I could watch my daughter teach her little groms. I enjoyed watching her instruct cute little kids.

When the lifts opened up, I went out and took a few runs. The high temperature of the morning registered around 5 degrees Fahrenheit. So after 4 runs, I headed back to the lodge to warm up and do some more work. I found the WiFi in the lodge to be superb. I had to download a 500 MB file and the free service didn't get too slow for everyone else. Furthermore the file seemed to be ready to use in a matter of seconds. Out of respect to everyone else, I didn't try to download any more large files.

At lunch I noticed the lift lines became non-existent. I headed out for a few runs until everyone finished lunch and the lines returned. Then I headed back to the lodge for more software testing and e-mail reading. My wife arrived around 3pm to take a few runs with our son and daughter-in-law. I headed out with her for an hour or so and then we drove home.

If you find yourself looking for a change of scenery and have the option of working from home, I highly suggest heading to a ski lodge. If the WiFi is as good as Alta's, you can get a lot done. Furthermore the scenery and atmosphere is awesome. I highly recommend it.

Christmas Break Video Game List

This afternoon I am taking a small break from working at home to watch my son play Horizon Zero Dawn with the downloadable content (DLC) The Frozen Wilds. It has me thinking about the games I want to play over the break. I made sure to pick up a number of games from the office before leaving and I will see how many I can get through during my time off. I will probably save the Horizon games until I head back to California as it looks like a good game to play during my evenings on the boat. Here is my list for the break:

Star Wars Battlefront II - I watched my son start out this game a few days ago and it looks very interesting. I must confess that I am a huge Star Wars fan and we will see if it lives up to my expectations.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - I am a huge fan of the Uncharted series and have played all of the other games. I have high expectations for this game and think I can get this completed before the break is over.

Steep - I have wanted to play this game for a long time and finally picked up a copy. Of course I will also be skiing Snowbird and Alta so we will see how much time I want to swap from real skiing to do virtual skiing.

I have a bunch of other games in my library but I think this is a good start for my break. We'll see how many I get played.

Disk or Digital Download

This evening I watched the movie Cars 3 using a digital streaming service. This brought up a conversation about purchasing disks on movies or streaming them. My personal preference is to purchase disks and my oldest daughter echoed that sentiment when she pointed out that she tried to watch Cool Runnings on a streaming service but it is no longer available. When you own the disk, you never have to worry about that problem.

At the office we have similar discussion going on: are disks better than digital downloads for games. Once again my preference is a physical disk. I do see how a digital download can be better though. I travel between Utah and California weekly. When I play a video game from a disk, I have to carry that disk with me back and forth. If I purchased the game as a digital download, I would just need to download it to my console in California and my console in Utah but only purchase it once. Then I wouldn't need to carry a disk back and forth.

The reason we watched tonight's movie as a digital download is that nobody felt like going to a store to purchase a disk copy. I just turned on my TV and ordered it through one of my online services. I also had a free coupon so I didn't even have to pay for the viewing this evening. Ultimately I will be going to get the movie on disk as it is one I want to keep in my video library. That way when the grand kids show up, I can just pull out the disk.

What would be nice is a service that lets you buy the movie or game online. Then they ship you the disk so you can have a copy later. That is the best of both worlds.

Online Security

This afternoon I spent several hours reading through computer and online security policies for my company. They are not different from what you would find at any company concerned about making sure sensitive information remains so. While there is a lot that I read, the interesting point I would like to share today is with passwords.

I am going to start by saying that I hate my company's password policy. My company laptop password has to be a minimum of 12 characters, contain upper and lower-case letters, contain at least 1 number, and can optionally contain symbols. Furthermore I have to change the password every 90 days but cannot change it within 2 weeks of creating a new one. Why? So users don't just cycle through difficult passwords until they get back to their familiar one. We cannot use the same password again for a really long time. That means our password system remembers quite a few of our old passwords and won't let us re-use them. Of course, we are not allowed to write our passwords down. While this all sounds cumbersome to me, it actually has merit and should be adopted by others concerned about security.

Instead of looking at long passwords as being difficult to remember, I now look at them as ways of creating short sentences. For instance, when I have to create a password for someone and give it to them with the instruction to change it immediately, I always use something funny like "MattIsT0tallyAwesome!" It is longer than the 12-character minimum and is filled with upper and lower-case letters. I have also replaced one of the letter O's with a zero so I get a number in there. Then I end with the exclamation point which is an optional symbol.

The other thing that can get confusing is having to change my password so frequently. While I have come up with a short sentence for my first password, in 3 months I will have to change it again. Instead of coming up with a new password, I simply create a follow-on sentence. One example might be "YesHeReally1s!". Notice how all the rules are followed again with the number one replacing the capital letter I in the word "is". Once again I have used an exclamation point at the end but could have used another symbol just as easily. By the time I have changed my password 10 or 20 times, I have a fairly funny dialog that has been going on. The only trick is remembering which sentence I am on for my current password, but that is much easier than remembering a bunch of random characters.

For the record, I have never used either of my example passwords and they only serve as ideas. After all, what good is having a clever password if you post it somewhere for everyone to read?

The Christmas Spirit

This evening I am home alone while my family participates in a great extended family activity. I would like to be with them but have another engagement and can't make it. They will be back in an hour or so and we can do something to celebrate the Christmas season. In the mean time I am trying to keep in a happy mood and I am using music to help me.

My youngest son got married in October and one purchase I made for the celebration is a large powered speaker. We used it to play dance music at his reception and it worked very well. This afternoon I pulled it out and connected it to one of my smartphones. Near Field Communication (NFC) makes things easy because all I had to do is touch the phone to the speaker and the two devices paired right up without having to do anything else. Then I just turned on the Pandora's Christmas Radio station. I can't think of a better way to get into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas List 2017

Every year I try to put together a Christmas list for those of you interested in ideas on what to get that nerd in your life. This year I have come to the conclusion that I am not your typical nerd. A few weeks ago I talked with a few guys in the airport while waiting to catch my flight. During the conversation it came out that they both spend free time developing mobile games when they are not at work in front of their computers. I discovered a long time ago that every man needs a hobby and while computers pay my bills, I need something different to occupy my free time. I spend my winters skiing and my summers rock climbing, cycling, and sailing. So this year, I want to create two lists: one for the really nerdy person in your life and one for the nerdy person that you don't want to be nerdy any more.

Nerd List:

• Second or third phone charger - I have two phones that I carry around on a daily basis and so I like to keep chargers in places I may need to use them. I have a charger on my sailboat in California for when I am there during the week. I also keep spare chargers at my office in addition to the ones I keep at home. I hardly spend any time in my car but I have recently put some there for those long drives I am starting to take more often. These can be found relatively cheaply and cost around $10 - $20.
• Classic video games for the latest generation of consoles - The latest consoles have been out for a while and some of the original games that have been out since launch can be found at places like GameStop, Best Buy, or Target for next to nothing. Look through your nerd's stash of games and see if there are not some classics that can be found inexpensively. One of the best sites to visit for reviews is Metacritic and you will find a number of high-quality games to choose from.
• Steam Gift Cards - Not everybody uses consoles to play video games. Some like to game on their computers. For those that don't know what games to get but have someone that likes to play games on the PC, there is always a Steam Gift Card.
• Smartphone case - Mobile phones are replacing laptop computers as the computing device being used most frequently. I am pretty good about not dropping my phone but it does happen. I highly recommend getting a protective case for that special someone in your life that spends a lot of time on the phone. There are a number of different models and features to choose from. My preference is to have one that doesn't add a lot of bulk to the phone but still has some level of protection.

Reformed Nerd List (my preferred list this year):

• A National Parks annual pass - I love visiting Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion National Parks as well as many others. There are a large number of National Parks and so I highly recommend getting an annual pass. At only $80 for a year, it is really inexpensive. When my daughters complained about the current administration tripling the entrance fee to certain overcrowded National Parks during peak season, I realized that an annual pass is only a few dollars more and will allow you to visit every park in the country all year long. I really hope I have one in my Christmas stocking this year.
• A Bird Identification Book - Recently I rode my bike to work and rode next to a beautiful bird and would love to know what species it belongs to. It was black with beautiful red markings on its wings. I have never been much of a bird watcher but think it would be a fun thing to get into as I spend my time outside. A good set of binoculars would make a nice companion gift.
• Global Entry or TSA Pre - This year my wife put something interesting on her Christmas list: experiences. She said she would prefer experiences over "stuff." While there are a number of experiences that can be had close to home, sometimes you need to get on a plane. I signed up for Global Entry earlier in the year and it has made travelling so much easier. When I came back from Japan a few weeks ago, I got through Los Angeles International Airport's (LAX) customs and immigration in under 7 minutes. It used to take me almost 30. Global Entry also comes with TSA Pre which gets me through all domestic airport security lanes significantly faster and with much less hassle than before. At $100, Global Entry is well worth the price. If you don't plan to do any international travel, TSA Pre is only $85 and much easier to get.
• Rock Climbing Guides - This gift is rather specific to me but should serve as an idea for other gifts. It is great to be able to find a guide book to help me locate good climbing areas close to home. I have also picked up guides for famous venues such as Yosemite and Zion National Parks. There are a number of other great climbing places that I would like to find out about and guide books are a great way to do that.
• Waterproof protective phone case - Yes, this appears on both lists because recently I have started doing some Canyoneering where you have to swim through parts of the canyon. Dry bags are recommended but make it tough to take pictures of your adventure. I have a waterproof phone case that I use for such events and am glad I have it. I don't use it on a daily basis because it adds too much bulk to my phone.

As always, I hope this gives you some ideas for that computer person in your life as you try to find last-minute Christmas Gift Ideas. If none of these seem to be the right gift, then might I suggest good old fashioned kindness and Holiday cheer.

Time to Replace a Phone

Once again it is time to replace my old Android Smartphone. The old one had this funny problem where it would turn itself off and I could not turn it back on unless I plugged it into the charger. It didn't happen very often but I finally got tired of it and asked for a new phone. After all, it is the phone provided by my place of employment and I don't have to pay for a new one.

I had the option of an iPhone or an Android phone. As my personal phone is an iPhone, I opted to get the Android phone. I like the flexibility of having both an Apple and an Android. My new phone is very similar to my old one in features and is waterproof. While I don't really plan to ever test that feature, it is good to know about it in case something bad happens.

Any time you need to replace an electronic device like a laptop or phone, you will need some time to set up the new device. Fortunately I didn't opt for the iPhone as it would have been very difficult to get all of my applications and data moved to the new phone. Ultimately I just ended up moving the SIM card from my old phone to the new one and turned them both on. They were both connected to the WiFi network and recognized that one needed to be backed up and restored to the new one. That made everything convenient. I didn't need to transfer contacts as that happened the moment I entered my Google login information on the new phone. It is also important to remember that the process was not instantaneous. It took a few minutes and required me to enter some information on the new phone.

Today I finished pairing up my exercise headphones to the new phone. That is something I forgot when I got the new phone last week. There are a number of speaker systems I have at home that are also not paired to my new device. Fortunately it comes with NFC pairing so I just have to touch the phone to speakers and they will pair automatically. That is not something you can do on an iPhone but is a very convenient feature.

It is nice to have a smartphone without little problems. It is also nice that moving to a new one has gotten to be so seamless. Now if we can make upgrading computers this easy, I might think about replacing my laptop computers more frequently.