I went and saw Revenge of the Sith tonight. I can say it definitely felt good to see a Star Wars story in the theaters one last time. (This is supposed to be the last time, after all.)

What else can I say? They weren't the atrocities the first two movies were. Overall I still don't think it was any better than the originals, but I do think there was a lot of room for improvement. (Don't worry, there won't be any spoilers here.)

I saw this link on Slashdot to a BBC story that calls all computer technician types "unqualified amateurs."

I think I resent that.

I just read a great tip about how to store Cyanoacrylate for long periods of time without it drying out on you.

Yes, it's the kid in me, but these Lego PCs are really cool.

I especially like the one on the bottom, where he made his own cube-shaped mini-PC out of what appears to be a standard microATX board.

Since requests for an absentee ballot had to be in by October 27 and my family emergency happened on October 30, I had to use another method.

I voted using a provisional ballot.

I went to Dollar Tree today and picked up some of the street lights for their Cobblestone Corners holiday village series. It's a cheap way to get some parts for projects, electronic or otherwise.

Where else will you get a battery pack for two AAs--complete with two-position sliding on/off switch--some bits of wire (22 gauge?), and up to three grain of wheat bulbs for a buck?

Ever since I first read about the Taguchi method in Robert X. Cringely's PBS column a year ago, I've been fascinated by it.

Since then I've seen a few more references to it on the Web, but frankly I think I need an engineer and a statistician to explain the formula to me.

It's a long weekend, and it's going to be a busy one.

In the meantime, for those of you who like old trains, here's a link: Standard Gauge Blog. Primarily it's dedicated to the old Lionel 2 1/8-inch "Standard Gauge" (there wasn't anything standard about it, in reality). But if you want to talk about showstopper trains, the biggest showstoppers were this style.

I like this guy because he acknowledges there's more to the world than MTH (and MTH isn't even the center of the universe!), he talks to experts, and once he even showed how these things were/are made. Worth checking out.

Passing a few minutes before a movie started tonight, my girlfriend and I went into a nearby store to look around. And what did we find?

Christmas stuff.

Am I smoking crack, or is it still August?

My mom and girlfriend and sister spent some time this past week painting my house. I can paint a little, but it's not something I enjoy as much as they do, and I'm definitely not as fast as they are.

I made a couple of small contributions. It was strictly a case of me applying things I've learned from model railroading. So there is some tangible benefit to that time I've spent playing with trains after all.

So here's everything I know. (This is gonna be a short one.)