![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I've been a ba-a-a-ad boy...
Aug. 10th, 2002 11:20 pmI simply have not been able to focus on translation today. On the other hand, I've looked through the materials that are due on Monday, and I really think I ought to be able to polish them off tomorrow, so I don't think there's any problem there.
I got up today before dawn, and decided to travel down Fourmile Road before going to open the store. I figured if Galina and I could do the trip in about two hours last Sunday, I ought to be able to do it in three and be in time to unlock the front door on time.
In my excitement, I forgot nearly everything but the car. I thought I had my GPS, but it was not in my bag. I'd emptied my pockets the night before, and forgotten to take my pocket knife. I didn't even think about a sweater (I rode much of the way with the windows open for visibility, and the heater going full blast for survival).
I did take my old Kodak digital camera, though.
* * * One of the things I noticed soon after moving to Pagosa, was that the sight of the mountains at sunrise will bring an involuntary smile to my face. The following picture is a poor substitute for the real thing (I cannot seem to capture the sharpness of the scene), but it shows the sun just starting to glance off of Pagosa Peak.
I was not able to unlimber my camera fast enough after coming across a buck and (I presume) his doe, standing in the middle of the road as if they owned it, looking at me rather whimsically (I thought) before doing that marvelous disappearing act that deer are wont to perform.
But it was a glorious drive! Turning one corner, something red caught my eye, and I got out and took this picture:
As for the rest of the day... well... I put in my stint at the store, came home, and took a nap. By the time I got up, Galina and Drew were back from the store, and that ol' wanderlust hit me again. I asked Galina if she wanted to go for a drive... she said yes.
This time, we went up Piedra Road past the turnoff that would eventually bring us into downtown Pagosa Springs via Fourmile Road (the reverse of the morning's trip). We were headed for Williams Lake (a place I wrote about in June 2001 and this past April).
It's hard to miss Pagosa Peak when you're driving toward the wilderness. Here's what it looks like in broad daylight:
* * * I got to thinking about interfacing my Magellan GPS to some kind of computer, and my first stab consisted of extracting my old NEC-8201 (a Tandy Model 100 workalike) from the storeroom. In its heyday (and my heyday as a control systems engineer), I used to use the NEC to help troubleshoot some pretty hairy RS-232 problems (I even wrote up my technique for one of Wayne Green's magazines, the relatively short-lived Pico).
Determining that the output from the Magellan was 4800 baud, 8 bits, and no parity was easy. Moreover, the output from the GPS unit is straightforward, if you know what it means (and I didn't).
Hitting Google to understand the meaning of it all, I chanced upon a site for something called GpsDrive, which runs on Linux machines running X Windows. I downloaded the tarball and ran the configure script, fully expecting the thing to die an awful, gurgling death as it informed me that some argane bit of software (that I did not have on my system) was required before the procedure could go on.
Mirabile dictu, it all went well, as did the compilation and installation, using the 'make' utility.
When I finally got everything hooked up, the result was pretty impressive, despite the fact that the computer running the software was sitting on the dining room table. The program has the capability to download maps from the Internet, so that you can actually see where you are. Presumably, if you are mobile and have wireless connectivity, the program will continue to download new maps as you move.
Frankly, I don't know if I need that much horsepower with me when I go mushroom hunting, but it's a neat program.
Cheers...
I got up today before dawn, and decided to travel down Fourmile Road before going to open the store. I figured if Galina and I could do the trip in about two hours last Sunday, I ought to be able to do it in three and be in time to unlock the front door on time.
In my excitement, I forgot nearly everything but the car. I thought I had my GPS, but it was not in my bag. I'd emptied my pockets the night before, and forgotten to take my pocket knife. I didn't even think about a sweater (I rode much of the way with the windows open for visibility, and the heater going full blast for survival).
I did take my old Kodak digital camera, though.
I was not able to unlimber my camera fast enough after coming across a buck and (I presume) his doe, standing in the middle of the road as if they owned it, looking at me rather whimsically (I thought) before doing that marvelous disappearing act that deer are wont to perform.
But it was a glorious drive! Turning one corner, something red caught my eye, and I got out and took this picture:
As for the rest of the day... well... I put in my stint at the store, came home, and took a nap. By the time I got up, Galina and Drew were back from the store, and that ol' wanderlust hit me again. I asked Galina if she wanted to go for a drive... she said yes.
This time, we went up Piedra Road past the turnoff that would eventually bring us into downtown Pagosa Springs via Fourmile Road (the reverse of the morning's trip). We were headed for Williams Lake (a place I wrote about in June 2001 and this past April).
It's hard to miss Pagosa Peak when you're driving toward the wilderness. Here's what it looks like in broad daylight:
Determining that the output from the Magellan was 4800 baud, 8 bits, and no parity was easy. Moreover, the output from the GPS unit is straightforward, if you know what it means (and I didn't).
Hitting Google to understand the meaning of it all, I chanced upon a site for something called GpsDrive, which runs on Linux machines running X Windows. I downloaded the tarball and ran the configure script, fully expecting the thing to die an awful, gurgling death as it informed me that some argane bit of software (that I did not have on my system) was required before the procedure could go on.
Mirabile dictu, it all went well, as did the compilation and installation, using the 'make' utility.
When I finally got everything hooked up, the result was pretty impressive, despite the fact that the computer running the software was sitting on the dining room table. The program has the capability to download maps from the Internet, so that you can actually see where you are. Presumably, if you are mobile and have wireless connectivity, the program will continue to download new maps as you move.
Frankly, I don't know if I need that much horsepower with me when I go mushroom hunting, but it's a neat program.
Cheers...
