Where have I been?

Nowhere, in a physical sense. I know I haven't posted anything in 2 months, but I haven't really been in a mood to say anything.

Since my last post, I have bought a new cell phone. My old cell phone is OK physically, but I had to let it drop in the summer of 2006. I primarily go with prepaid phones because I don't make many calls. I could have paid to get the old one reactivated, but I figured I'd probably pay the same as what I did for the new one.
Why did I get a new cell phone? Well, the battery on the cordless phone I use for work has dropped out on my unexpectedly a few times. Also, with the weather warming up, I'll be walking longer distances, and I like having a phone with me when I'm out away from the house. If something happens to me, or I see something that needs to be reported to the authorities, I will be able to make the call.
The phone is a refurbished unit, one of those skinny flip phones that fits comfortably in my pocket. And it has a camera.

I used the camera to take pictures of an item I use often. The item is a PennyPincher, a device for holding pennies until I have enough to make a roll. I posted the pictures in a thread on CR4 to see if other members of the forum could guess what it was. Here's a link:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/20794/Picture-Challenge-Uncommon-Item-Common-Name.

And this is one of the pics:

Sorry about the quality, but the camera is part of a cell phone after all.










Here are a few images that I have created in either in AutoCAD or Inventor and posted on CR4:



The first 3 are from a Challenge Question thread about a design based on a ring of tangent circles. The fourth is from another Challenge Question thread about the distance between cities. Here are the links:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/2589/Tangent-Circles-Newsletter-Challenge-07-24-07

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/5597/Distance-CR4-Challenge-04-22-08

Two other significant changes since my last post: I have started using Firefox, and I have made a major purchase. I'll elaborate on the purchase at the right time.

Distractions!

I don't know how many people follow this blog, but you if you do, you might have noticed that I sometimes do not post for a couple of weeks. Sometimes, I can't think of anmything to say, and sometimes I get distracted.

One of my biggest distractions is an engineering oriented website called CR4. It is associated with another site called Globalspec, a site that allows engineers or designers to search for parts.
CR4 has forums and blogs. The first blog I went to was the Challenge Questions blog. Each week, the blog owner posts a puzzling situation, and members try to guess the answer or offer their own explanation or solution. Sometimes someone proposes a solution that is better than the official answer.
When I'm on CR4 and I'm not in the Challenge Questions, I'm in the General Discussion forum. I'm easy to find there because I'm the only one from Kiefer OK.
The addy is http://cr4.globalspec.com/.

I used to be on the Stormtrack forum quite a bit, but there has been too much drama there and not enough fun. The only sections I look at there anymore are the Forecast and Post Storm Discussions.

Sometimes I spend time on You Tube looking at videos of a lost art form - the novelty song. Artist that specialize(d) in novelty songs are Spike Jones and His City Slickers, Allan Sherman, and Ray Stevens. Wierd Al Yankovich is only artist today that comes close to producing new novelty pieces, but his works are mostly parodies of pop hits. Novelty songs are more original, but they might use more familiar tunes.
I believe this country is losing something valuable by not having new novelty songs. This might be a sign that we are losing our sense of humor.
If you need a laugh, go to You Tube and watch a few novelty song videos. I recommend you start with Spike Jones renditions of "Cocktails for Two," "Clink, Clink!" and "Der Fuhrer's Face." Then look up Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!" That one is a classic! Then finish up with Ray Stevens' "The Streak," "It's Me Again, Margaret" and "The Mississippi Squrriel Revival."