StrickStuff My Ramblings & Random Thoughts

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Thoughts on technology, life, and everything in between since 2006.

Building AI Agents With a Soul

How I gave each of my AI sub-agents their own SOUL.md and IDENTITY.md files — the single highest-leverage change I've made to my OpenClaw setup.

The Photo Album Finally Got a Refresh

It's been on the to-do list for longer than I'd like to admit, but the online photo album finally got a proper overhaul. Decades of memories, organized at last — with a little help from AI.

AI and Phishing Emails

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used to create more sophisticated phishing emails. In the future, AI is likely to play an even greater role in phi…

Turkey Brine Recipe

Turkey Brine Recipe Turkey Brine Recipe 1/2 gal Water (For concentrated brine) 1 cup Salt 1 cup Brown Sugar 5 cloves Garlic 1 tbsp Black Pepper 1 tbsp Cloves 1…

Simple Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Simple Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Simple Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe Ice Cream Maker Mixer 1 cup Whole Milk 2 cups Heavy Cream 2/3 cup Sugar 1 ea Vanilla Bean 1 1…

Decision Support System Paper

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM James Strickland, Student Barry University, PACE Decision Support Systems Introduction An example of a management information system (MI…

Script to Convert Blueiris video to MP4

bash script to convert bvr files to Mp4 I was looking for a method to convert .bvr files to mp4 without using up my Blue Iris camera servers processor. Currentl…

blue conky script with Spotify

Edited an old conky script with updated colors to match my theme and added Spotify & BTC. conky.config = { -- set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the b…

Ice Cream Recipe

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream Basic Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe 1 ½ cups Whole Milk 1 ⅙ cups Granulated Sugar 3 cups Heavy Cream 1 ½ tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract In a mediu…

Merry Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas 2019. Merry Christmas everyone. So very thankful for everything that I have right. As I sit here and sip on a martini and listen to some instrum…

Infected websites

Websites went down. It appears that several of my domains ended up with infected pages. I do not know how that happened and neither does Dreamhost. This is curr…

Website update

The website was badly in need of an update. The photo section was antiquated and relied on PHP5.6 to work properly. Since Dreamhost hosts my website, I have lim…

SEO Cheat Sheet

Here's a great cheat sheet from MOZ.com . SEO Cheat Sheet

Farm Fossilling

Tried to find some fossils in the creek at the farm:

VB.net Compare Assignment

Here's the assignment for Lab3. The next class session will show us . Public Class frmCompare '----JDS----------------------- 'CREATED: 10/15/2014 'CREATED BY:…

Social Engineering / Hack attempt

Today I received a phone call at 5:24PM (CST) from (281) 593-3503 showed up on caller ID as Cleveland, TX. This is the 2nd call from this person, who had a stro…

Wordpress Migration

Finally migrated my Wordpress blog from the WP/ folder to the root directory, making it my main CMS for Strickstuff.com and KK4WMI.com. My todo list is: Work on…

Kayak

I have been wanting a kayak for sometime now. I posted on craigslist to trade my Toshiba Excite Tablet for a Kayak and received a response. The kayak was far fr…

Yet another post

Yet another post... I absolutely lost track of how long its been. I have lost all interest in this website. Since I am no longer in the military and since I no…

Christmas Pic

Christmas Pic 2012 Merry Christmas from our Family to yours!

Christmas 2012

Yet another Christmas is upon us. I've all but given up on this blog... But, it doesn't really matter. Because I just made a post! In fact. I often wonder if I'…

Intro to programming class

Finally took an intro to programming class. Here's the first program we worked on: // REMOVED CODE... Not an Operating system or anything, but it's a little som…

Over 6 months...

It has been just over 6 months since my last post. Not that I'm counting. I have successfully completed my 1st semester of school and am half way through my sec…

January 2012!

Sure doesn't seem like it's 2012 already. I mean... couple of days ago it was only 2011... For me, classes start next week. This time I'm taking 4 classes as I…

Christmas 2011

As the year of the rabbit comes to an end, the year of the Dragon quickly approaches. 2011 was a good year, filled with many ups and downs, good times and bad t…

Christmas is coming

With only 7 days and counting until Christmas 2011, I must admit, this is among the worst Christmases ever. Although being deployed during Christmas was certain…

Yet another new look

Yet another year is about to pass, as such, so should the old look. I was going for a "paper" look, to match the "theme" I have for my main site. Doesn't really…

Life's Parts

I have recently come to the conclusion that my life comes in 4 parts. Part one was my child hood. Part two was when I joined the Military. Part three is when I…

Forgotten Blog

Once again, I seem to have forgotten that I even own a website. November 2010 was the last time I wrote in here. guess I just haven't had much to say. So much h…

Post Surgery…

You know, being on convalescent leave is not too bad. I mean, I get paid to lay around the house and get better. In fact, I got 18 days off for free. These days…

Happy Halloween

Greetings all, October was a busy month. I aged yet another year, at 35 years old I had my first surgery. I had knee surgery on Wednesday. Currently my knee is…

Columbus Day

What a boring Columbus Day. Not that I'm celebrating this day. hey, it's another paid day off work. While reading about Columbus on Columbus Day, I stumbled upo…

MAC OS X on a PC

Going to high school in the mid 90s, computers wasn't as modern as they were today. Our school was 97% Macintosh, 2% Apple IIE, 1% PC. These were the old Mac II…

A+ Certification

Recently finished my degree, and have started studying for my A+ certification. While finishing up my degree, I discovered that the Air Force will pay $4500 dol…

Rain Rain… where have you been.

We have been plagued with an unusually dry summer this year. Finally it has been raining all day, and there is a HUGE glob of green and yellow on the Weather Ch…

Fall is almost upon us…

Finally the blistering summer heat is behind us (hopefully) . Fall is only 1 week away; Bringing cooler weather and some of the best holidays of the year. The k…

Happy Laborday 2010!!!

Another labor day is upon us. Cooler weather is here, but not as cool as last year. It has been a sweltering hot summer as we’re looking forward to some cooler…

Modding my WII

After paying someone to mod my kids PSP, I decided to attempt to mod the WII myself. It was quite easy and didn’t take as long as I anticipated. The longest par…

The Old days of Computing...

Ahhh... I'm thinking about loading the latest Sabayon Linux on these... Luckily they're double sided/double density!!!... Although I never used an acoustic coup…

English Class 1st Essay

I posted my first Essay today. It was to be on a Hero, and we are to explain why he/she was a hero in our eyes. I didn't want to choose a military hero, as ther…

Fathers Day

Happy Father's Day. Fathers Day started in June of 1910, when a lady who was raised by her father was listening to a Mother's Day Sermon, and wanted her father…

Ubuntu Netbook

Looking for something different, I recently downloaded and installed Ubuntu on my netbook. I have been a LOYAL Sabayon Linux user for many years now. I still us…

Last two Classes

Monday I start my last two classes (English & Psychology). After this, I'll have a college degree. Whatever that means... I'll have another piece of paper to ha…

Mayo

Well... every three months for a post isn't too bad. blah... I'll write something here one day. Not sure what day.

Do I own a blog?

WoW!!! I actually own a blog! Forgot about this. I'll have to start writing in this thing again. HAPPY 2010...

New Computer

I am excited… just got a new computer. Since my old desktop was Ancient (AMD 3400+), I had to get a new computer. I had some extra cash, so I got me an AMD Phen…

New Computers

Greetings all... Since I haven't replaced any computers in quite a while now, I figured it was time get the family a new computer or two. Picked the kids up an…

I will not throw paper airplanes in class!!!

Stumbled upon this cartoon: Thought this was hilarious!!! Of course, since I'm not much of a C++ programmer, I would do something like this: Sub airplanes() Ran…

Happy Labor Day!!!

The weather here in Virginia is starting to cool down, as the Summer highway quickly comes to an end.

Settleing In

Finally we're starting to get settled in, here in Hampton Roads. Yesterday our house hold goods finally arrived from Japan. It's funny how much stuff a family a…

MOVED

We moved to Virginia. From Japan, we got here on July 4th. Finally moved in our house, finally got CABLE & Internet. More later... I almost forgot I even had a…

Happy New Year

Greetings fellow reader(s): I hope all everyone has had a wonderful Christmas, regardless of what religious background you claim. I had a great Christmas with m…

Happy Holidays

Greetings all... It has been quite a while since I've written. Since my last posting, I have been TDY to Qatar. It is late, and I'm tired, I'll have to write so…

New Look...

After putting it off, for a while , I finally decided to re-do my website. No templates, no Front Page... just me and some html & css. Except for the Javascript…

July Updates

Fellow Readers... (Whomever that may be...) Just some updates. July was a busy month for me. My little baby had to have surgery, so we were flown Hawaii where D…

23 HOURS

I've been up for 23 hours now... it's 4:45 am, and I want to go home... :( BLAH~!~!~!

Filling up my Lawnmower

Remember when you could fill your car up and only use a $20 bill? Well, I have accepted that we have passed that years ago. Remember when you could take the cha…

AutoFormat a spreadsheet

Trying to AutoFormat an Excel Spreadsheet... Sub OLVIMS_REPORT() '====================================================== ' CLOSED 868 REPORT AUTO FORMAT SCRIPT/…

My Grade

Greetings readers, as if anyone actually reads this… I made a C in Geology. Made an A on both my Final and my Capstone. I’m so glad that class is over. Just tho…

Surgery

Another Day down, and that much closer to the baby's surgery. Audrey is scheduled for surgery on the 9 th of July. Audrey and I fly into Hawaii on the 6 th , an…

June Updates...

Finals are finally done!!! I will not be taking classes this summer. Things are just too hectic around the house, with Audrey having surgery and all. Now that t…

May Updates...

Greetings all... Once again, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been staying extremely busy. I'm taking 2 more classes, as I've mentioned before…

sync'ing laptop & desktop

Recently got tired of having bookmarks on my my laptop and not on my desktop, podcasts on my desktop but not on my laptop and so on and so forth. So, I decided…

MS Office

I think the majority of the world uses Microsoft Products. Whether it's Windows XP/Vista or Microsoft Office. Like a Southern Baptist Preacher, I feel it my res…

New Baby!

Audrey Elaine Strickland Wife had some complications, and had to have a "C" section, but the baby (who is 3.5 weeks early) is doing well. She was 7 pounds and 1…

latest offroad pics & video

Finally got off my "toosh" and posted the videos of our last offroad adventure. Look here for pics and heree for videos . Now, the video page has a long list of…

Converting Video to FLV

I was tired of using the web forms that my webhost provided to convert video to .flv format. So, I wrote this script which works fine and dandy: #!/bin/bash ###…

Traded ZUNE for iAudio

In an attempt to get an MP3 player that is more compatible with Linux, I decided to get rid of my Microsoft Zune. With the Zune, you have to use the Microsoft Z…

Aikido Neglect

Since that I have been on night shift, I have been missing my Aikido Classes. I feel bad, that is good training which is just as good for your mind and spirit.…

Happy March

HAPPY MARCH! March is the month of my anniversary. 10 years? I can't believe it. someone has put up with me for 10 years... or I have put up with my wife for 10…

Script for Converting video to Zune format

A script I wrote to re-encode videos for use on the Zune. #!/bin/bash ############################## # ZUNE VIDEO CONVERTER # # gi_james@strickstuff.com # # www…

What's Happening...

Looking back and without realizing it, I haven't posted a single blog entry this year. Of course, I blame it on a combination of school and work. I mean, I have…

Linux on my Laptop

Finally got a laptop! My old laptop bit the dust and had to be thrown in the trash can -- literally! Got me a Sony Vaio (VGN-N250E), which came with Windows Vis…

Web Neglect

I have been neglecting both my website and my blog lately. Between things going on at work and home, plus I'm back to taking classes now, it's been a bit heckti…

Monday Morning

I woke up this morning knowing that it started snowing outside, but wasn't necessarily prepared for what was waiting for me outside. After I woke up and did my…

Snow Snow & well... just a litte bit of Snow

So it starts, the temperature plumented today. This morning it wasn't that cold, but by 10 or 11 the AM, it was quite cold out. By the time 1 pm rolled around,…

Rain Rain

Rain Rain go away, come back another day... Uhhh... well... not sure when the rain will stop. Seems like it's a late monsoon season. We went out offroading yest…

VETERANS DAY

Happy Veterans Day!!! Happy Veterans Day all! It's a bit rainy here in Northern Japan... don't think it has stopped in 3 or 4 days. Still working on CSS, tweaki…

another Off Road Adventure

Looks like we're planning another off road trip to the Mountains this weekend. Weather Permitting of course. We'll see what happens.

CSS for "Terminal Screen"

Here's some CSS that I used to make a pretend "Terminal Screen:" You can see an example here. /* my [typed] Piece of Paper CSS */ html{height: 100%;} body { fon…

Typed Paper CSS

Did this CSS to make a page look like a "typed" piece of paper. /* my [typed] Piece of Paper CSS */ html{height: 100%;} body { font-family: "courier new", couri…

Internet Explorer -vs- Firefox

Ok, I see a big difference when viewing my website with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. The formatting is totally different. It seems that in Interent Ex…

RSS Feeds

Added some RSS feeds. Just testing some stuff out, learning stuff...

COLD

Man, it was cold out this AM. 37 degrees. Just 5 more degrees to freezing. There's no heat on in our building yet, and it's seems even colder in here. It's blow…

1st Fieldtrip today

Jaymie went on her first field trip today. Look here for the pics. Looks like Jaymie had a great time.

Change

Added some new themes to my blog. Periodically I like to change the looks of things. Hope you like it. ciao

Novembre

Greetings all: Halloween is finally over. I decided to have a little " get together " at my house halloween night, but didn't seem to work out. I bought 4 racks…

Halloween

Another month is almost past. Tomorrow is Halloween. It doesn't seem like it has been a year since the last Halloween. This year we're having a Halloween Party…

Better

Today was better day, when I got home from work, my head wasn't pounding. It's now 7pm and I'm about to go to bed and get ready for another fun day at work tomo…

ALARM PINK

Alarm PINK -- MOPP 100

Blah... Lunes

Blahh... another friggin' Monday here at work. More reasons for me to love the miltary. Guess we have to be here for 12 hours today for no reason what-so-ever .…

Saturday Mountain Exploring Trip

Today we went out exploring/trail riding in the mountains in Norther Japan. This was an awsome ride and I posted pics & videos on my website. If you want to dow…

Blah... Winter is coming...

Another weekend is upon us. The year is creeping by. Northern Japans short summer is in our rear view mirrors as the we pass the welcome sign for winter. Icy te…

Learning Something New...

They say we learn something new everyday. I'm right at 32 years old (in a few weeks), and I have never -- ever -- had roller skate on. I have, however, tried ic…

Today's Thoughts

Another Friday is here. It seems like time just cruises along at turbo speeds. It’s hard to believe that I have been living in Japan for 14 months now. It seems…

Wednesday

It's Wednesday now... the week seems to be going by fast. The weather is staying cool, they hot days are over. It's around 50 degrees in the morning. Maybe we'l…

Sunday Drive

Today, we went out for a Sunday drive. When we left, we wasn't really sure where we were going, started heading toward Tawada, then changed direction and ended…

TGIF

Friday, September 28, 2007. I'm glad it's Friday, getting up at 3 - 3:30 (depending on snooze factor) sucks, so I will be sleeping in the the morning. I have no…

Photo Gallery

Updated Photo Gallery I updated, upgraded and changed around my photogallery. So, let me know what you think. I kind of like the theme I have on there now. It l…

it's been quiet

Greetings everyone... I mean, when I say everyone, the zero to few people that may read this blog. I mean... why on earth would one read this... well... why on…

Quiet

Blog has been a bit quiet lately. Things have been rather crazy both at work and at home. Haven't had much Time for Aikido lately... which sucks -- but I'll jus…

Userbar

Made a new userbar... it turned out ok... kind-of what I wanted... this would be version 2632-1.0 Made these in GIMP. ME!

Ukemi

Last Wednesday I took a pretty good fall... bruised my side... & got my wrist bruised when I was being pinned... wasn't a good night... so I skipped the Friday…

Sumo Dojo again...

Today we had a good practice session at the Sumo dojo again. I'm definately improving on my unkemi. Well... atleast when I do ukemi by myself. But, when someone…

Good workout tonight!

We had a good session tonight. I'm really sore, but I really need to work on my Ukemi. If I practice my ukemi by myself, I'm fine. However, someone is throwing…

Recovery Op

Went out to pull some friends out of the mud, ended up getting stuck myself. http://www.strickstuff.com <-- A video is on the front page (for now) http://strick…

Weekend Sessions

Sensei Motsomoto-san offered up his weekends again, so I eagerly accepted. Today was great, I feel like I'm making progress with my ukemi (forward at least). Ne…

Good session tonight.

I had a good Aikido session tonight. We had more people there & Sensei offered to teach again on Saturday & Sunday. that's awsome, so that will be 5 sessions a…

Sumo Dojo

Today, we a good workout... worked on lots of moves & I practiced my rolls. Sensei said I really needed more practice, and I agreed. Our normal dojo (Misawa Gym…

another awsome session

had another awesome Aikido session today. I really need more practice & I really need to learn more Japanese. Sensei Motsomoto-san agreed to give us a private l…

What the Average Japanese thinks

I was asking one of the Japanese I work with some questions about Kyuodo, and martial arts in general. I told them that I was taking Aikido downtown, and he sta…

2nd Training Session

My 2nd day of Training went well, eventhough today I really felt the language barrier. I will sign up for the next Japanese class that's offered. Plus, there's…

Missed practice

I missed my Aikido practice on the 4th, decided to do the "fire works" thing, also, the muscles needed the time...

1st Aikido Class

Last Night was my first Aikido class. It was quite a workout, as I'm pretty sore today. I haven't had a workout like that in a long while. I can't wait to learn…

Well...

Looks like I'm not off of weekend duty after all. Another month... Let's shoot for August... maybe I'll be off by then. The kids will be in school... but I'll b…

Another Photogallery Update

I added hundreds more photo's in my photogallery update. http://www.strickstuff.com/photo -ME

Mind your own...

Some people need to mind thier own business. You know who you are. No need to say anything more.

One more weekend...

One more weekend after this one, and I'll finally be off of weekend duty. Just in time to spend some time with the kids for the summer. A friend of ours is plan…

*OLD* Laptop

I was given an old laptop. It is a Dell Lattitude Cpi D300XT. It has a blazin' 300 mhz processor, a whopping 64 megs of ram, I think it had a bad 6 gig HD, so I…

Photogallery Update

I have updated my Photogallery... added some old photo's I had on an old server... check 'em out: http://strickstuff.com/photo/main.php?g2_itemId=1835 <--> most…

Another Weekend

Another weekend is here... it's 6:46 pm, and I'm here at work... not much going on... just surfin' the net, working on my website, and watching TV... Earlier to…

Changed Blog Software...

Since I changed hosts (from Yahoo to Dreamhost). That also means changing servers. Previously I was using Movable Type for my blog, but moving/upgrading was too…

Pics of Philippines

Finally posted some pics of our trip to the philippines. Check 'em out: My Photo Gallery

Another wEAkend...

Yet another weekend is upon us, and I'm working, nights even... Spring fills the now warmer Northern Japanese Air, Cherry Blossoms are blooming, and the snow on…

Sloooowwwww!!!!

Man... it is SLOW at work... there's nothing to do... I'm bored... -Anonymous...

Linux -vs- Microsoft

Linux -vs- Windows Recently, while trying to customize my Windows XP desktop, I got tired of everything I found costing money. I mean, Windows XP cost enough. Y…

Website update

Ok... I'm currently working on revamping my entire website. Getting rid of all that Frontpage code, and most of all, getting rid of that Front page look.

CutBacks

StrickStuff.com This is what we have to look forward to with all the cutbacks...

Trip to Aomori

We decided to take a trip to Aomori, Since we hadn't been there yet. Took a toll road, thought the toll roads were plowed and snow & ice free, but as we found o…

Happy Holidays once again!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It has been a while since I've posted, and some of you may have noticed the site wasn't working. This is fixed now, HOPEFULL…

Beaches & Mountains

My buddy Jon and I went out to the beach looking for Glass Floats or Glass Balls. Ended up getting stuck on the beach when I was backing up and didn't see one o…

Japanese Glass Floats

StrickStuff it's 06:30 in the AM and me and a buddy is gettin' ready to go up toward the northern penensula to look for the Japanesse Glass floats or balls. Wha…

Ice on Beach

Ice on the Beach This pic was again taken in Northern Japan... after some hail and snow, the beach turned white, like the beaches in Florida. Yes it was COLD!!!

Hail on the beach

Hail on the Beach This pic was taken on the Beach in Northern Japan (Aomori Pref.). We was out looking for glass floats, when it suddenly started to Hail, follo…