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Comcast port blocking
So I’ve been in contact with my email host provider all morning trying to figure out why as of this morning I can’t send out email, they’re a great email host and always quick to respond. We finally get to the point where we verified that everything is setup properly (of course it is, nothing has changed on my end in over a year). Finally the discussion about blocked ports arises and sure enough, it seems as though Comcast is now blocking port 25 for SMTP connections. So, I’ve changed it to port 2525 and everything seems to be working fine. My question is this: How can they justify just stopping traffic on port 25 without letting everyone know they are going to do it? I can’t even imagine how many people are pulling out their hair this morning because they can’t send out email and they have no idea why. COME ON COMCAST - COMMUNICATION IS KEY!!
Was this change on Comcast’s end specific to my and my IP address or was this a blanket change that is affecting more people than just myself?
Tuesday ~ April 04, 2008 by spencerjw Posted in Blogroll, Gadget, General, Health, Tech | 4 Comments
New Ride
So as most people know my ‘92 CBR 600 F2 has seen better days. I love the F2, it fits me great, has plenty of power and doesn’t look like it’s from the early 90’s unlike may other sport bikes from that time period. However, it has seen better days and it was time to look at why I ride and how I ride. I’m not an extremely aggressive rider and at my stage in life and with a wife and 2 kids, the last 2 years were fun with the CBR, but stressful for my wife and in the end it “was a good run”. So, this last Saturday we headed over to Grand Prix Motorsports to check out their inventory. What I found was what I had been looking for. They had a great looking ‘02 Honda Shadow Spirit 750. This bike is in immaculate condition with a few upgrades. The previous owner had added drag bars, Vance & Hines exhaust, saddle bags, windscreen and a custom seat. Everything I wanted to find in a bike except for a custom paint job, guess I’ll just have to do that myself. So, we traded in my sport-bike for the cruiser, grabbed some new boots and a new helmet. I looked over every inch of the bike yesterday and I couldn’t find a single flaw anywhere with the exception of a small scuff on the right handle grip where it looks like it got too close to a garage wall or something. In other words, this thing is in near factory shape without pulling apart the engine to inspect it. I will upload more pics I took with my Nikon this evening, but for now this iPhone pic will have to do…. ADDED PICS 4/28/08
Monday ~ April 04, 2008 by spencerjw Posted in Blogroll, Climbing, Family, Friends, General, Vehicles | 1 Comment
Web Developer Project Management
A list I am a part of has been discussing the issue of project management, receiving assets and copy and overall freelance client headaches we’ve all been through. One area of deep discussion is around the difficulty of getting content and copy for a clients website in a timely manner, if at all. From the very beginning I let the client know that I personally will not write copy. I will provide them with a writer to do the work for them for a fee or if they want to provide the copy they can do so as long as they hit their deadlines as well. I personally use an Extranet (Basecamp) to assign To-Do’s so that the client is notified of due dates and other tasks that need to be completed. It keeps me on track, the client informed and greatly helps to push the client to do their part. However, this works about 50% of the time, maybe a bit more. So in our discussions someone has chimed in on a process that they have either seen or used in the past that I think is worth of blogging about, his email is below: Quote: Khan How do you present the pricing to the client? If you have a basic line item pricing plan: HTML Programming - $800 That’s a great start. Now for the doozy: Project Management - $2500 Client: “What the hell, why $2500 for project management?” You: “I get that all the time. Here’s a typical project plan sheet” [slide over sheet of paper that outlines all the tasks that need to be delivered and on what date] Client: “Doesn’t seem like that would warrant a cost of $2500!” You: “I hear what you’re saying, but you’ll be surprised at what an impact it has on being able to deliver the project on time.” Client: “What do you mean?” You: “Well, you see this date here, March 24th? I need all the content from you on this date, so I’ll need to call you on March 17th, to see if you’re on track to get me that because I intend on being done with this project by March 24th. It’s that sort of follow-up that I’m accounting for.” Client: “That seems a bit much!” You: “I tell you what. I’ll amend our contract to say that you’re not on the hook for this $2500, contingent that you meet all the dates on this schedule with your deliverables. If you miss the deadline, you agree to pay the project management contingency fee.” You’ll need to modify that script a bit, but you get the idea.
I am going to implement this into my process from here on out, this could really be beneficial in making sure the client holds the same responsibility to their project as I would.
CGI/PHP Programming - $1250
Graphic Design - $650
Tuesday ~ February 02, 2008 by spencerjw Posted in Blogroll, General, Tech | No Comments
Super Tuesday Voting Results
Here’s the link for the Google Map/Twitter mashup.
Tuesday ~ February 02, 2008 by spencerjw Posted in General | No Comments
iPod integration with the A3
One of the cool features of my A3 is the iPod integration with the stereo system. Granted it’s not the best interface, but at least it works with my iPod and I don’t have to have a bunch of cables strewn all over the place. The dock is in the glove box and has adapters for all sorts of iPod versions to keep it inn place and from disconnecting. Makes it real easy to just slip it in and out without having to really lean over and see what you’re doing. right now I have my 2 gig iPod Nano in there. I can put my iPhone in but then I’d not be able to answer calls unless I pulled it out and they don’t have adapters to hole it in there real well.
The stereo display shows 6 CDs as if it were looking at the changer (which would be in the same spot as the iPod dock if I had that option) and each of the first 5 CDs are my Playlists that I created. The 6th CD is just my entire music library on the iPod.
There are of course drawbacks to the system, quite a few actually. First off, the display can only show you up to 99 songs but it will continue to play past song 99. You can’t tell what track you’re on unless you know the track number and there’s no display of the track, artist or album name given. when you choose to “Mix” a CD or all CDs the display returns to Track 1 and counts numerically which at first made me think the Mix feature wasn’t working. But it’s shuffling up the songs and just reporting back the number of the shuffled list you’re currently listening to.
With a large number of songs on a 2 gig (much less a larger iPod) the 99 song display limit could become a problem and scrolling through the songs isn’t very quick if you want to get to a song that’s in the higher digits.
Guess I need to rework my playlists and just have on the iPod the songs that I really want to be listening to, no sense in keeping songs on there that I just *might* want to listen to.
Wednesday ~ January 01, 2008 by spencerjw Posted in Blogroll, General, Tech, Vehicles | No Comments
My new ride
I absolutely love my new 2008 Audi A3 S-Line. This car is a blast to drive, looks great and handles even better. I will be posting pics soon as well as just blogging about it and DIY tips that I decide to do to it over time. Untill then, here’s a pic from some promotional material I found online.
Wednesday ~ January 01, 2008 by spencerjw Posted in Family, Friends, General, Vehicles | No Comments
Achmed the dead terrorist
Ok, this is not even close to being PC, but who cares? It’s funny!!
Monday ~ November 11, 2007 by spencerjw Posted in General | No Comments
Find the height of a building using a barometer
This was just sent to me from a friend and I thought it was so amusing that I must pass it along to other. Find the height of a building using a barometer At my first year of college my physics teacher told us this rather amusing story, I’ve never forgotten this story - but I certainly have forgotten everything I learned in that class. The following question was asked at the University of Copenhagen in a physics exam: “Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer.” One student replied: “You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building.” This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately. He appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics. For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn’t make up his mind which to use. On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows: “Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer. Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper’s shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper. But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sq root (l/g). Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up. If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building. But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor’s door and say to him ‘If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper’.” The student was Nils Bohr, the first Dane to win the Nobel prize for Physics. More than likely an anecdote:
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/barometer.asp
Friday ~ November 11, 2007 by spencerjw Posted in General | No Comments
Lily’s First Loose Tooth!
I guess I’m a whole lot more excited than she is. She was afraid to say she had a loose tooth because she didn’t understand that it’s part of growing up and is supposed to happen. She had thought she did something wrong so we had to explain to her that it’s a good thing, it’s part of growing up and this is quite a big milestone! We are pretty excited for her and we’ll keep everyone updated with news as the progresses. Spencer
Saturday ~ November 11, 2007 by spencerjw Posted in Family, Friends, General, Health | No Comments
Finally a site update!
Yeah, I know, failing in my own task to update the site regularly. I have finally moved all my pics from my old site to this new one (see left nav for URL). Sorry for those in the general public but the photo gallery is private and if you feel you are one of the family or friends that didn’t get a login then please feel free to contact me and request access. I have also started a new job (5 weeks ago) as you can see from the front page of my site. More pics (updated new pics) will be posted soon, I promise!
Thursday ~ November 11, 2007 by spencerjw Posted in Family, Friends | No Comments