The thoughts of Andrew Becherer on software, life and Tacoma.

This is a test of the iPhone Wordpress application.

I’d like to make a commitment to blog more frequently but I need a good Linux blog editor. This is posted with Flock. I don’t lik eit very much.

The Tacoma Linux Users Group, Taclug, is meeting tomorrow, Saturday, June 21st at 1 PM. You might say, “but Andrew I neither know or care what Linux is.” I say it does not matter. Taclug is the heart of the geek community in Tacoma. Tomorrow we will be having an introduction to microcontrollers using the Arduino platform and a soldering lesson by an accomplished electronics technician. Oh, and I should mention the free (or almost free) stuff. We are having a swap meet of sorts.

All the information you need like location (UWT), time and more is available at the Taclug website.

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is the HTC Touch Pro running the Google Android operating system. Thank you.

This year Doyle’s Public House served as the site of my Kentucky Derby inspired birthday party. A gift to myself was an inexpensive solid state video camera, the Aiptek A-HD+. I’m still sorting out how to use the thing and as such the video quality suffered a little and the audio quality was a wash (nothing a little work with a soldering iron will not fix). Enjoy:

I bought a Sounder Train Pass for the month of May but now I am going out of town on business this week and next. As such 2 weeks of my pass will go to waste. This is an unfortunate circumstance. I’m giving all of you faithful, Sunday morning feed>>tacoma readers a shot at a free train pass. For a chance at the pass email me at andrew@becherer.org with “Free May Sounder Pass” in the subject and include your mailing address for delivery purposes. Maybe let me know how you plan to put the pass to good use.

The pass now has a value of $171/2 or $85.50. It is good on Pierce Transit, King County Metro Transit, Community Transit and Sound Transit. It has a face value of $4 and something cents and will get you on any bus or train in a participating system.

I’m flying this afternoon and I’ll check my email once I get to my hotel. I’ll make arrangements with someone here in Tacoma to mail the pass to the winner which should put the pass in your mailbox on Tuesday morning. I make no guarantees that the contest will be random or fair (however, I will not be soliciting compensation for the train pass so no bribes (coffee, tea, BBQ tofu burgers or curry excluded from anti-bribing provision)).

I guess it is a transit day. Sound Transit is asking for input on potential expansion plans. In their words:

Sound Transit has identified new options for a smaller and quicker package of light rail, commuter rail and regional express bus expansions that would be completed in 12 years. Your voice will help shape the Sound Transit Board’s decision on the timing of a mass transit expansion measure and whether to move forward with a 12-year or a 20-year package.

found via Seattle Transit Blog

I have a new job that allows me the freedom of working from home many days of the week. As such I haven’t been making the commute to Seattle on a regular basis. This morning I was a little surprised to see the line waiting for the 590 Seattle Express buses. The line stretched well past Zone E. In my estimation this is a bus and a half of people. With buses leaving every 5 minutes at this time of day nobody should have to wait too long.

I have been plagued with a constant mystery since I first rode the 590 express buses a year ago. I can’t understand people who opt out of the first bus available. For those who have never ridden the 590 Seattle Express there is a class of passenger who if they are not among the first 10 people to board they will opt out and wait to be first, or fifth even, on the next bus. I realize not all seats on the bus are created equal but when I’m commuting by bus I just want to get on and get going. I’m always curious if these people are waiting for window seats, the awesome seat by the driver in the MCI coaches or a seat in the wheelchair accessible row and the superior leg room available there.

The Tacoma LINK remains popular. I counted 17 people on the platform at 7:05 AM today. I could not find the specific 2007 ridership numbers for the LINK but according to Sound Transit “In 2007, nearly 14 million riders boarded Sounder commuter rail, ST Express buses and Tacoma Link light rail trains, an increase of 12.3 percent over the previous year.” An interesting fact is that Sounder rail had the largest increase, at 27.4%. As a Sounder passenger I definitely noticed that ridership increase. The number of passengers seemed to swell with the I-5 construction last fall and it never really receded.

I’m looking forward to moving downtown this summer so I can catch the Tacoma LINK to get to the Sounder.

In a Slashdot thread on young jailed computer criminals user sm62704 coined the term cyberglar. Oh my God, that is horrible. On the upside the feds might like it. Cyber, cyber, cyber, cyber.

I’m attending the OpenWeb Vancouver 2008 conference. Today was excellent. I’ll be posting summaries of the talks I attended later. Now I need to seek out food.