Category: Davin

  • This blog is 10 years old

    Hey, I just realized that I’ve been blogging for ten years now. That’s some kind of milestone. From hand-crafted to Blogger to MovableType to WordPress Back when I started in 2003, it was really a learning experiment on my part. I was a consultant at the time, and felt that I needed to get first…

  • 1st try at the LCP challenge

  • My new .22 target pistol, Marvel and Springfield Range Officer

    Over the past couple months I’ve worked out the kinks on a new .22 target pistol, and I figured I’d share the details. The new gun: Marvel Unit 1 conversion on a Springfield Armory Range Officer frame After much consideration, I decided to go with a Marvel Precision Unit 1. That is a conversion unit…

  • Excluding a site in a Google search

    Want to get search results from Google that aren’t from a specific site? Put a minus sign to the left of “site,” as in this search query: “reliability of wikipedia -site:wikipedia.org”

  • Downsizing my mattress

    My current mattress is a little too soft for my bad back’s liking. And it’s just too big. I’m decidedly single at this point, have never been too tied to possessions in general, and so for me my queen mattress is just a nervous tick on the side of crazy. It’s time to downsize. So,…

  • Make an alternate form to register for nanny taxes and increase state tax revenue

    Ah, the nanny tax. Some quick Google searches show a range of 80 to 95% of people who are obligated to pay the nanny tax, simply don’t. (NYTimes, ParentDish.com) That’s a pretty whopping statistic. As I’ve been finding out, it would certainly be easier to just skip it. This past summer I hired a nanny…

  • Much ado about phone numbers

    Lately I’ve been thinking about formatting phone numbers. Of course, there are plenty of options in addition to the ones above, but these are some common ones, although the thin spaces option is perhaps not too common. I added it because I’ve been wondering about the value of the separator characters, and if we can…

  • How can MI UPA, IxDA groups, and MichiCHI work together?

    UX practitioners in the state of Michigan have an enviable problem. We have so many active professional groups that it’s easy to get confused by which one is doing what, exactly. Which groups? Usability Professionals Association, Michigan chapter (MI UPA) Interaction Design Association (IxDA), local groups IxDA-Ann Arbor IxDA-Lansing IxDA-Grand Rapids Michigan CHI (MichiCHI) Each…

  • Mmm. Steak Sandwich and Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

    I got the idea for the sandwich from an article on LiveStrong.com and I decided to track down a tomato soup recipe to make something of my abundant backyard tomato plant. No kidding, it was the best tomato soup I’ve ever had in my life.

  • Aug 2011 Vacation Photos

    This past weekend Lila, Eva and I returned home from a week-long vacation to the Keewenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I grew up there, and we caught up with relatives while there. Here are some photos from our trip. Taqhuamenon Falls We took a leisurely drive up and spent a morning site-seeing…