Dominic Pazzula

Web Data Viewer 2

2008-02-28T20:50:36Z

So I finally got around to finishing that data viewer I was working on before. I think it is in a decent place to start wider testing. Anyone interested can try to break it at:
www.talonrisk.com/apps/Components_offline.html

I have a couple on known issues, but they are not that big.

New functionality:
- Spiffy new menu bar.
- Ability to bookmark rows. Bookmark the rows you find interesting. Scroll through them going back and next on the menu bar, the right click menu, or keyboard shortcuts ("n" - next, "b" - back, "m" - mark/unmark).
- Filter the grid down to just your bookmarks
- Clear your sorts and filters to return the data back to its original state
- Want to look at two parts of the data at once? Duplicate your view to get a second viewer. These viewers can be linked together so that only scrolling and columns are different or unlinked to allow full control on both views.
- In dual view mode, use the menu bar to select which view the menu bar affects.

Thoughts, comments? Rhan, I haven't put in your suggestion from before, but more cosmetic comments are welcome!

dompazz @ 2008-01-09T10:54:00

2008-01-09T15:57:32Z

Here's an article off the AP wire:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080109/ap_on_re_us/dead_man_s_check;_ylt=AmPlKQhcd53LSO702hjNc16s0NUE

"Pair wheel corpse to store to cash check
...

Dalaia and O'Hare, both 65, were being held by police and faced check fraud charges, Browne said.

A call to a telephone number listed for Cintron at the apartment he shared with O'Hare went unanswered Tuesday evening."

You tell me which was more stupid:
A. Wheeling a dead guy to a store to cash his Social Security check
B. Reporting you were dumb enough to call the apartment shared by the dead guy and the guy you 1 line ago reported was being held in jail

dompazz @ 2008-01-03T11:54:00

2008-01-03T16:59:46Z

"The problem isn't that I dislike politicians, who tend to be self-involved, humorless automatons who'd rather eat their kids' pets than answer questions directly, and who spend their entire adult lives saying just about anything necessary to gain the affection of total strangers. Actually, that is the problem." -- Matt Labash

http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystandard/20080102/cm_weeklystandard/pickmeacandidate;_ylt=AtGQth78X_e2gmn6emqE0af9wxIF

I got a kick out of this.

So it's been a month...

2007-12-28T13:40:07Z

So it's been a month. I probably should have posted 3 or 4 times in there and just never got around to it. So here is everything I would have said, in one long post.

Stacey and I go invited to a Christmas party for a company I work with. Been friends with the owners for a while now...

Just because you never saw the bottom of your wine glass, it doesn't mean you only had 1 glass of wine. The waiter was refilling the glasses every other sip.

"1 Tequila, 2 Tequila, 3 Tequila, FLOOR" is not a true statement.

"5 Tequila, 6 Tequila, 7 Tequila, MORE!" is a BAD idea.

It is impossible to have 1 tequila; he will always invite his friend to join the party

It doesn't matter how good of a tequila you buy; he will still stage a death match with Mr. Shiraz and Mr. Bourbon and will probably win.

Don't be a hero. If someone is occupying the toilet, go to the other bathroom. The bath tub is for bathing, not puking.

It doesn't matter if there is nothing left in your stomach, you can always just dry heave.

When cleaning up after breaking #6, #7 will occur.

Try to schedule trans-atlantic flights at least 2 days after a Christmas party. Flying the day after is NOT a good idea.

So after the adventure of the Christmas party, I flew to Switzerland for work. Specifically, I flew to Geneva connecting through Philadelphia, and Paris (Charles de Gaul Airport). de Gaul airport is a pit. Air France is horrible; the domestic flights in Brazil were better. Maybe I was biased because I was hung over...

Geneva was really cool. VERY expensive. I think our cheapest meal was $35 USD a person. Our hotel was right in the middle of the shopping district. Prada, Armani, Versace, Tag Heuer, the largest Rolex dealer in the world, etc. were located within 3 blocks. Needless to say, I didn't buy Christmas gifts there.

We had a 10 block walk, through the historic old town, to the office. Very pretty.

Our meetings were done by Wed. and we didn't fly home until Sat. What to do??? Oh oh oh, I know, let's go skiing in the Alps! We took a train Wed night to the other side of Switzerland and St. Moritz.

St. Moritz is considered one of the homes of everything winter sports related. It is in this area that downhill skiing became a recreational sport. This is the place where bobsled and skeleton were first raced. It is also the ritziest ski resort I know of.

When 70% of the people you are skiing with have private jets and a driver to pick them up when they are done, you might be out of your league. When you can't get good service at the ski rental place because some British Lord's family is taking up all the staff, you might be out of your league.

Rich people aside, it was some of the best skiing I have ever had. Because we were there on the weekdays, the week before Christmas, the lines were not long. We waited a maximum of about 45 seconds to get on a lift. When there were 5 other people on a slope with us, we were upset because it was too crowded.

I have pictures on my Facebook if anyone wants to see: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24732&l=50f68&id=752937952

I heard back from the US coaches. Because I didn't take part in the mandatory testing camp over the summer (didn't know it was going on, nor could have made it because of work) I cannot race for the US this season.

However, they do want me to go to Park City for the race there and train with the team. I will get to do all of the training runs and I will fore-run the races. I'll have comparable times with the competitors, but they just won't count. If that goes well, I might get invited to the advanced driving school in Lake Placid come spring.

I will also get the testing out of the way while I am there. That means I should be able to race next season.

Race Results

2007-11-19T00:31:57Z

We finished 11th. Well we would have finished 11th if we weren’t DSQ for weight. I had a light sled for the first 2 weeks I was here. For political reasons, they had to switch sleds on me. The second sled they gave us was about 20 KG heavier than the original. That put us about 8KG overweight for the race. I didn’t want it badly enough to try to lose that in a week. :-p

My brakeman and I had extremely slow start times. Mostly this comes from the fact we had never pushed together before. The heavy sled didn’t help. Our times were in the 6.3 second range (time over the first 50 meters pushing the sled). This was by far, the slowest of the race. We got beat by girls on the start… For reference, the fastest start of the night was 5.25 seconds. That’s a world class time and was set by 2 Canadian national team members.

I’ll say my driving was good last night. I made some mistakes that cost us a few tenths of a second here and there. But our 11th place was out of 15. On Calgary’s track, the start is everything. With equal driving, 1 second on the start equals about 3 seconds in total time. Driving made up 4 places for us, which is really good.

Our down times were 59.52 and 59.65. Both personal bests. Top recorded speed (speed gun is at the halfway point on the track, top actual speeds at the bottom were probably 5 km/h faster) was 119.29 km/h or 74.12 MPH.

dompazz @ 2007-11-14T14:19:00

2007-11-14T19:35:24Z

Tonight is the official training for the race here in Calgary tomorrow. Matt, my brakeman, is here and we are getting ready. We've got runners to polish, the sled to setup, etc.

Over the weekend I was assigned a new sled for a number of different reasons. We now have a mid 90s Siorpaes. I can't find a picture of it. I'll try to get one tonight. I wasn't completely thrilled about the change, but I wasn't completely happy with the steering in the other sled either. We'll see how this one handles tonight. It will be my first time down the track in it.

Last Thursday my brakeman for the night bailed and I was stuck sans brake-person again. There was another driver out that night without a brakeman so we agreed to switch off. BAD IDEA. She is a first year driver and pounded us in the wall. On her second run, she hit hard enough to dislodge her goggles and knock out her contacts. We didn't flip, but I wish we had. I think the ride would have been smoother on our head.

I got a massive hip pointer injury from that ride. I never thought a bruise could be so big and so black without something being broken. It extends on the back of my hip from a couple of inches below my belt line about a quarter of the way down my leg. I would post a picture, but I doubt anyone wants to see my hugh ASS bruise. :-p

More to come in the next day or so on race results!

dompazz @ 2007-11-07T16:39:00

2007-11-07T21:49:15Z

I finally got out for my second night of sliding last night. I was supposed to go last Sunday, but a lack of brakeman and a lack of sled got in the way.

My runs went well. I'm still a little rusty from the off season, but I'm doing what the coaches are telling me. I need to work on my corner 6 and 8. They were horrific last night and cost me a lot of time.

I broke in a new brakeman last night. He wasn't all that impressed with sliding. It wasn't quite the frozen water slide ride he was expecting. I'm a little at fault for smacking him around in our first run (second run was much better). I don't think he's going the bobsled fever though.

I have sliding tomorrow night, assuming I get a brakeman. I'm thinking I'll have someone, but we'll see.

Race next week. I'm pumped.

I've got a fe-va, and the only prescription is...

2007-11-02T05:01:11Z

Well I got out and got down the bobsled track for the first time this season. Went well; only minor bruising. We came out on all 4s which is always a plus.

My sled is '99 Podar. I'm going to have to work on it a little over the weekend. It pulls to the left (either that or the grooves point that way at the start -- I hit the wall before corner 1 both runs). I'm also going to have to find some shims for my runners. The shoes are too loose and my runners rattle something fierce. Oh, and I have to pad the back seat. There's nothing back there and, well, my brakeman will probably need it.

This was my first time drving a sled with Podar steering. Definitely different from my Siorpaes from last year. I'll give it a few more runs before I pass judgment.

Here's my sled if anyone is interested http://www.telusplanet.net/public/oaneale/graphics/P1020865a.jpg .

Stupid me forgot to pick up a copy of the time sheet for the night. My times were bad since neither my brakeman nor I had bobspikes. A 10 second start does not make for a fast run. I was hoping to brag about how fast I went. Guess that will have to wait until Sunday night.

Calgary

2007-10-30T15:48:51Z

In Calgary!

We're in Calgary for our 3 week mini-vacation. Well, OK, Stacey is vacationing and I continue to work everyday.

I'll be starting the bobsled season on Thursday. Wish me luck!

Gifts

2007-09-06T02:51:06Z

I've been traveling for work for the past 8 weeks. It seems longer than that.

For 7 of those 8 weeks I have stayed in the same Hampton Inn. It's close to the office, it's cheap, and as a Hilton Honors Diamond VIP (meaning I have WAY more Hilton points than most people) I get the best rooms for the price of the worst rooms.

Now I've done stints like this before. Usually on the second week, the hotel manager either stops me when I check in or leaves a note in my room, thanking me for my repeat business. It's not a necessary thing, but it's nice to know they know I'm spending boo-koo bucks in their hotel (250 a night * 5 nights a week * 7 weeks... ).

So as of last week, only a few of the front desk clerks recognized me and only 1 knew my name. I had never seen the manager, let alone gotten a note. So when Hilton sent me a survey asking my opinion of their hotel, I told them it was a nice hotel, but...

That was Sunday. Monday was a holiday and Tuesday my email was percolating around Hilton offices somewhere.

Today I came into my room to find this along with a note from the general manager:

Very nice!

We'll see if I get a note or some kind of acknowledgment when I come back next week.

Now if I wasn't on this pesky diet, I would be half-way through that box of Godiva!

LED Update

2007-08-26T00:11:50Z

So we got our LED bulbs in the other day and I tried them out. I'm less than impressed. The LED put out a fair amount of light, but the bulbs are designed poorly. All the light is a focused beam, which means they have very limited applications.

Personally, I think I could come up with a better design than these POSes. And for 30+ dollars a pop, I might just actually do that.

Economic Refrom in Estonia

2007-08-21T19:58:31Z

http://www.heritage.org/Research/WorldwideFreedom/bg2060.cfm

This is a long, but worthwhile read. It discusses the economic reforms that Estonia undertook after the collapse of the USSR and how they have outpaced their neighbors. It gives a concrete example of how economic freedom leads to prosperity.

Ouch

2007-08-10T13:22:49Z

Got our most recent power bill today. It was almost 200 dollars. That's the highest I have ever seen.

Luckily we have 12 months of history with the power company. That means we can enroll in their equal payment plan. It smooths your power bill out by taking the average usage over the last 12 months. So you pay less that you normally would in the summer and more in the winter.

Double lucky that of those 12 months, we've only lived in the house 2. So our average is not so big...

I'm also buying some LED light bulbs to try to cut back on usage. LEDs are way better than the compact fluorescent bulbs. They use less energy than the fluorescent bulbs, they don't contain any of the mercury fluorescents do, and they last longer.

I bought my bulbs here: www.eternaleds.com We're going to do a test with a few and see how they work. I'm hopeful because we can replace ~40 100W bulbs with bulbs using 2.5W on average. If all the lights were turned on in my house, that would be 4000W vs 100W. It's like lighting my entire house with 1 light bulb!

I'll post more once they come in and we see how they do.

dompazz @ 2007-07-20T13:43:00

2007-07-20T17:51:12Z

It's been a while, though most of you have been kept up-to-date. I guess it's still time to make a post.

Let's see in the past 6 months we have:

Had a kid http://www.pazzula.com/Dom_And_Stacey/will.html

Started my own company http://www.talonrisk.com/

Left Calgary for Raleigh

Wrote a newsletter article which will become a joint marketing piece between my company and SAS http://www.riskadvisory.com/riskNews/news_risknews_1.html

Decided never to buy a Dell again (no link, but let's just say I considered moving to NY to join the class action lawsuit).

Realized that I hate the heat and humidity of the South (really, when you live in Calgary and it is never above 89 and the humidity stays around 30%...)

That about sums it up.

New Website

2007-06-08T23:41:43Z

Well I have my company website up and running. http://www.talonrisk.com

It's a little light on content, I know.

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Bobsled Picts

2007-04-04T22:53:57Z

I finally got the picture the photographer took during one of the last times I drove the track in Calgary.

Click the image for a really high res version.

This is the exit of corner 9, we're going about 70MPH here. The corner is tapering off so the G-load is falling away. Probably only about 2.5Gs when this was taken.

Bobsled Brakeman

2007-03-20T01:30:51Z

I'm looking for a brakeman for next season. I hoping to be able to race for the US in the America's Cup next season. So if you or anyone you know might be interested, let me know.

Driver's POV from Calgary

2007-03-12T22:16:07Z

I found this giving a drivers point of view from the bobsleigh track in Calgary.

Talking with Sarah, the resident expert at work, she thinks this was probably filmed in the early to mid 90s. The fixtures around the track have changed (i.e. covers over corners, top lips on some corners, etc), but the track is the same.

Now just imagine driving during this while experiencing 4+ Gs in the big corners!

EDIT: Oops on the link... should work now!

Park City, Day 4

2007-03-02T02:22:32Z

Today went well. I got my 5 runs from the top in today. If I harbored any sliver of doubt that Park City track was slower or had less pressure (G-forces) than Calgary, those doubts were erased. Holy cow it's fast from the top here. I rarely feel the pressure in Calgary, and usually only if I mess something up.

So let's see, I had one run where they walked the sled down to corner 1. One run where the sled was walked 3/4 of the way down the starting straight. One run from 1/2 way down the starting straight. Two runs from the top where we were just pushed over the crest of the hill.

The 4th run was the fastest with a total time of 59.82 and a start time (first 50 meters) of 10.60. The speed gun was covered with snow so I don't have speeds. We'll just say, fast as hell.

Two hinky moments in my 5 runs (you might want to break out the map for these). First was in corner 13 on run 4. We tapped the right wall out of 12 and got pushed late into 13. Came out on two runners and finally flopped down just before we hit corner 14. The second moment came on run 5 when I was a little late out of corner 11. We almost rolled it into 12 but luckily the pressure of 12 brought us down.

So Steve, here are your pictures. Yeah, it was a little snowy today. Yes, apparently bobsleding gives me a goofy smile.

Click the picture to see a bigger image.

Dom and US Team Coach Joe Sisson. Dom is the one with the goofy smile.

Dom and brakeman Matt (whose last name I never got). Yes, Dom has the goofy smile.

Park City, Day 3

2007-03-01T04:25:23Z

Another good day of sliding today. I got three runs from the Jr. start again. We didn't have enough time, so I didn't get to the top. I will be starting from there tomorrow. We've got the track from 2 - 5 so hopefully I'll get a good 4-5 runs in.

I now hold the unoffical 2-man track record from Jr. start. My brakeman gave me a good push and we got down in 43.71. For reference, my downtime yesterday was 50.08. My top speed today was 101.2 kph (62.9 mph).

This evening I volenteered to brake for Ivan Radcliff. Ivan is a long time US Bobsled Team brake/crew-man.

Sorry Steve, no pictures today. I'll try to get some tomorrow.

Park City, Day 2

2007-02-28T05:47:39Z

Park City and most of Utah got hit by a blizzard this morning. It cleared up a little before noon which meant that sliding was still a go for this afternoon. Unfortunately, the track crew was not on the ball. I probably could have had 4+ runs today. I only got 2.

I slid from just above corner 6 (see previous post for picture). Even from there, I hit 100.2 Km/h (62.3 mph for my metrically challenged friends). I'm using an older Podar sled which feels completely different from my Siorpaes. The steering is close enough though.

Tomorrow I will be sliding from the same spot 1 more time and then heading to the top.

I found this link that gives some track facts for the Park City track.

Check back tomorrow for more updates.

Park City, Day 1

2007-02-27T03:47:26Z

Yesterday I left Calgary before the butt crack of dawn to drive to Park City for a little bob sledding. I had today off, so I slept in (needed that after 14 hours of driving) and then walked the bobsled track.

Click on a picture to view a larger image

The view from the bobsled track.

The view from the top of the hill looking at turns 11, 12, 13, and 14.

Here is the Google Earth image of the track. I added the numbers of the corners for your reference.

The start line.

Entrance of corner 1.

Exit of corner 1.

Entrance of corner 3.

Exit of corner 3. See the picture above of the full view. I'll try not to be in awe as I fly past at 60 mph.

I have pictures of all the entrances and exits of the corners. You can view the small pictures here and the large, full-sized ones, here.

Tomorrow I start to drive the track. I will provide a full account then.

Two good emails

2007-02-18T17:19:31Z

I got two good emails recently.

For my NC State friends http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nruhland/posters/.

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from
Northwestern University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant
standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed,
so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and
inspected the elephant's foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply
embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the
wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put
down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather
curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.
Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mbemb was walking through the Chicago Zoo with
his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the
creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu
were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its
front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several
times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wondering
if this was the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed
over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up
to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of
Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Ahh Krispy Kreme...

2007-01-29T02:21:02Z

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/537160.html

Argh

2007-01-16T18:33:09Z

This is taken from the USA Today's Editorial

The opinion of the editors includes this:
"Government subsidizes the poor, which is more cost-effective than the way their care is handled now."

No, I subsidize the government, which takes a piece to pay the bureaucrats and politicians, which then subsidizes the poor. Currently I pay slightly more for health care so that the hospital can continue to give free or extremely reduced price health care to the poor.

The plan in CA calls for a tax on Dr.'s and hospital revenues to pay for the insurance for the poor. This will cause the price of health care to increase. This will anger the politicians who will then legislate the price of health care. Alternatively they might legislate the price of insurance when insurance premiums rise to pay for increased cost of health care.

Doctors will find that they will not be able to make as much money as they did before. Doctors will move out of Califorina, quit practicing medicine, or switch to a more lucrative "elective" specialty. The same will happen for other health care workers. Fewer and fewer doctors and health care workers will practice in CA.

The reduced hospital income will cause the hospital to reduce capital expenditures on things like new MRI machines. The lack of workers and equipment will cause longer and longer wait times. Effectively this is the same as government mandated health care rationing.

Currently living in Canada, I have first hand experience that socialized/mandated insurance does not provide a high quality of care. There might be problems in the US system, but it still provides the best level of care to everyone -- including the poor that cannot pay. Currently, no hospital will ever turn someone away that needs medical care.