super-structure

I have learned that there is something about the mac that makes for really nice, easy software. It’s sort of a cross between a Unix ethos (that is, programs that do just one thing and do them really well) and an Apple ethos (it just works). One fairly simple task that, in practice, is a huge pain is concatenating .mp3 files together to create an audiobook (typically an .m4b file¹). I had found a few scripts and such to do this sort of thing, but all were multi-step processes and often didn’t produce the results I wanted (at least not for the effort I had put into them).

Enter Audiobook Builder by Splasm Software. In a nutshell, it simply collects audio files together and then puts them in a single, compressed .m4b file. Now, it does have a few more bells and whistles available along the process, but the standard process is as easy as:

1. Name and optional cover art.
2. Add the audio files, likely from .mp3 or from ripping a CD right into Audiobook Builder.
3. Click Build Audiobook.

Which are the steps laid out on the three main buttons along the bottom of the window. Once the program is finished (and it might take a while), the finished audiobook is added into iTunes for you.

One of the first uses I had for the software was to put the 13 CDs of Gregory Maguire’s "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" for Angela. She had purchased this to listen to on our move down from Richmond. Fortunately, the audiobook being nearly 20 hours, she didn’t have time to finish during that drive (long as it was). Plus, with 13 CDs to fool with, having it all on an iPod seemed like a better way to have the content, anyway.

As I described above, there’s not much to it. Inserting 13 discs for the ripping process wasn’t much fun, but all of that is done right within Audiobook Builder, so there’s no program switching or hunting for files. The only that I did outside of the program was go to Amazon.com to get the cover art and meta-tag information.

I do have a couple of complaints about Audiobook Builder. First, I’d like to be able to add more meta-data than what is currently possible. I would recommend some sort of Add more info… button on the first screen. Secondly, you control the individual file length² by means of a slider in the Preferences dialog. I find myself fiddling with this a lot as I want to balance file length number of files. I think that there could be two options, within the third screen, for either limiting length of files or number of files. I change this for every single audiobook I create, and try different lengths for each, as well. Having to go to the Preferences dialog each time is fairly cumbersome.

Ever wanted to read some classics? Well, go get the volunteer-read files from Librivox and put them together in Audiobook Builder (I’ve got the first half of Don Quixote already done, even with chapter artwork added within Audiobook Builder). For $9.95, this program is a steal even if you have even a couple of CD audiobooks laying around. Rip ‘em, and then donate them to your public library. Then you don’t have to worry about them taking up space and someone else can get to listen to them.

1. The .m4b is a relatively common format associated with audiobooks. Most players know to remember the last stopping point on these files, which alone is important enough to merit using on a 6-hour long file.↵
2. It would be nice if you had exact control over the length of files, but basically it is really setting an upper limit. Audiobook builder won’t split individual files that you have added or ripped into it, as it has no way of knowing if the split is in an appropriate spot or not - mostly likely not.↵

So, after months and months of online discussion, Mythbusters Jamie and Adam put the physics where the rubber meets the road.

Literally.

Almost two years ago, I (and most of the internet, it seems) saw a thought question at Kottke.org regarding an airplane on a giant conveyor belt. If the belt moved the exact same speed as the airplane’s wheels – only in the opposite direction – would the plane take off? Well, the answer was immediately clear to me, but that’s for the sole reason of I took several semesters of statics, dynamics, and physics in college. I knew immediately that the plane would take off, without any question. I did my best to clearly explain why this was the case in the ensuing discussion on Jason Kottke’s website¹.

Well, last night, I (and Kottke, along with a lot of others) were vindicated as we watched a little yellow, single seat ultralight take off from a 2,000 foot long conveyor belt on a new episode of Mythbusters.

Now, as just a brief – and parenthetical – afterthought: it always feels good to be proven right. However, one of the most awesome experiences in science is when all common sense tells you one thing, but the numbers and scientific logic tell you the opposite. In that case, when a empirical result supports the unlikely or seemingly impossible, it is a marvelous and wonderful surprise. Think about all the really cool experiments you ever saw in science class or on Mr. Wizard, and I’ll bet they fit into that latter case. What you thought couldn’t happen does indeed happen right before your eyes. That very thing has made many a person fall in love with science for the rest of their lives and I sincerely hope that this experiment did the same for a lot of people last night.

In the meantime: I told you so!

1. Kottke has really taken some ownership of this question, too. He even live-blogged last night’s episode. I, unfortunately, had to TiVo it and watch it this morning. Hence, the somewhat late post of mine.↵

As a result of our moving, I have taken a position of Senior Technical Writer with Bentley Systems, Inc. Specifically, I’ll be working with software in the structures group. In the past three years, Bentley has acquired several big names in structural engineering software: REI (STAAD), RAM International, and more recently TDV GmbH (RM). I think that a number of engineers were surprised to see this move by Bentley (at least I was), particularly given the perception that STAAD and RAM were major competitors. However, as I’ve learned a bit more about the company and what the direction of the structures group appears to be in, it has become clear that they have in place a remarkable suite of structural applications. What’s more, they are position themselves to provide software for virtually any structure type or size. Along the way of polishing the elements to build this toolbox, they are integrating all of them so they are better equipped to work in the future world of Building Information Modeling, which is the new hotness in the construction and engineering world.

So, let me back up a bit and explain how I got here.

Though I have to admit it felt at first like taking a long shot at the time, I sent out some resumes to some engineering software firms to gauge their interest in hiring a structural engineer to work remotely. I was pleased when two companies, including Bentley, were interested. I did my best to learn all I could about the positions and products of both (I have been a career user of the products now in Bentley’s line, though). After learning more about what they had in mind for both their software and this position, I realized that this was indeed the correct career path for me. To put another way, I believe that while both are excellent positions, I wanted the job I felt was not just a good fit for me but a great one.

It is a bit daunting to leave behind a career in design, but at this point it really feels like the natural background for the work I’ll be doing in the future, rather than a total career change. The knowledge in design and working in a consulting office will be indispensable as a technical writer as well as to serve as a liaison between engineering clients and software programmers; getting to talk to them about what they’d like our software to do and present to them how they can achieve that.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about being so apprehensive about total life changes. Well, when this job came together, something inside me clicked and everything just felt right. It’s not most people’s idea of a dream job to work mostly at home writing and talking about engineering software, but it kind of is mine. I’m genuinely excited about the work I’ll be doing as well as the company I’ll be doing it for; one that really seems to be providing a great set of applications and is moving the industry forward in terms of technology and how to benefit designers.

Also, for the first time in my life, being a nerd isn’t a social drawback; it’s a lifestyle and a marketable skill set.

Our new iPod "classic" – which comes in much more compact packaging than older iPods. The large cube box has been replaced with a much slimmer case. Also, you don’t get a charging block with it anymore.

After much debate and self-reflection in our home over the past couple of weeks, we decided to get an 80GB iPod Classic. We new that we were due for an upgrade from our old 20GB 3rd generation iPod. It’s tiny monochromatic screen was hard to see much on. The size wasn’t too much of an issue (of course, that’s partly because it couldn’t display video or photos). We played around with the iPhone quite a lot and debated getting an iPod Touch. There’s no denying that it has a gorgeous screen and sexy interface.

However, once we started looking at what we actually use an iPod for, the Classic was the right choice. I listen to music mostly in my car and that slick interface (you have to turn it sideways) wouldn’t work in a DLO transpod. Further, flicking around music probably isn’t a smart thing to do while driving. Also, we use the iPod as a hard drive to backup photo & video storage while on vacations and 16GB wasn’t going to be enough (I can average as much as 500 photos a day, which is about 3.5GB per day when shot in RAW).

All that being said, it also came down to a judgement in value. I simply didn’t want to pay more for something that did less of what we need from it. We don’t have the extra dough to be spending on frivolous features that we’ll rarely take advantage of (i.e. – the iPod Touch). We really did consider getting an iPhone, which would be nice to reduce the number of gadgets (phone, Palm, camera, iPod, laptop) but in the end, I think that even the mighty iPhone falls short of any one of those devices when compared directly. It’s not as good a camera as Angela’s Canon Elph, let alone my D50. It doesn’t have the third party software that Angela’s Palm has (nor will it ever as far as Apple is concerned, it seems). We have mobile phones that do a good job of syncing with our macs (for contacts, calendars, etc.). Angela’s iBook is great for surfing while not at home (though, obviously for only one of us at a time should be we apart). Lastly, I’ve enumerated why the iPhone is not the perfect iPod for us. Sure, the convenience of one sleek gadget versus five bulkly ones is alluring, but ultimately not a reasonable option for us. At least not for the present time (I probably will get a iPhone if a 3G network version is available when I decide to replace my w810i).

There’s been some typical blog/complaining about the interface upgrade, which I suppose was the most significant change between the 5G and 6G iPods. Given that I was using a (seemingly ancient) 3G, I don’t miss whatever they are pining for, to tell the truth. The "Ken Burns effect" on the album art in the background doesn’t bother me, though I suppose it looks more attractive with some cover-art more than others. Perhaps Apple could allow for users to select which art gets used? I don’t find the Cover Flow feature to be that great on the Classic, but it’s also not particularly sluggish, either. Some recent reports have indicated that the sound quality has dropped due to a change in some of the internal hardware, but only audiophiles are likely to pick up on this. Frankly, if the quality matters that much, I doubt these people listen to music on an iPod they downloaded from the iTunes music store. As I stated above, I listen mostly in my car on an FM modulator; the sound quality is at least as good as the FM reception on my stock Ford stereo so I don’t get too uptight about that sort of thing. Audiobooks and podcasts sound just great, as far as I care.

All things considered so far, I like the iPod Classic so far. The interface is an improvement in my opinion when compared to the old one. The cost to value ratio is great, given how great a gadget the origional iPod form factor is after six years (which is forever in gadget time scales).

Here’s some visual comparisons between the 3G iPod (back when they essentially only came in white) and the current 6G iPod Classic (now that none come in white):

Okay, so the iPhone and Touch have much larger screens, but this is a big jump in screen space (not to mention gorgeous color).

Wow, that is a slim little device. Now why could they put a hard drive in the iPod Touch?

Within less than three weeks of our daughter being born, our otherwise reliable front-loading washing machine started having some problems. The washer wouldn’t spin the clothes – leaving us to hand-wring out large piles of slopping wet laundry. However, with some investigation and help, the washer I was able to fix the washer myself (as in: not the Sears repairman).

The Problem

During my mom’s visit with us a couple of weeks ago, she explained to me that she was having to hand-wring out all the laundry before putting it in the dryer. It seems that the washer wouldn’t go into the spin cycle. Our washer and dryer are about seven years old, but were top-’o-the-line Maytag Neptune models when we purchased them. There is no reason they should stop working now. However, nothing I could do (at first) seemed to have any effect on the washing machine. Angela and I decided to call the Maytag repair man to have to have him come take a look at it (who was actually a contractor for Sears, but whatever). Within literally seconds of taking off the face panel he stated that the R11 resistor was burned out. I asked if this was something he could just re-solder onto the otherwise healthy looking printed circuit board. “No, I’ll have to replace the entire control board.” he said.

“So what causes this sort of thing to happen?” I asked.

“Usually lightening damage or some other sort of power fluctuation.” he stated very matter-of-factly.

Damage caused by the burned out R-11 resistor (removed) on our Maytag Neptune’s control board. The Q6 triac to the right also must be replaced.

As it turns out, that’s a $300 part and it costs around $160 in labor to replace it. I realize that not everyone is familiar with the cost of electronics and labor, so let me explain my shock at this. A resistor that costs less than 1¢ each at Radio Shack (or at least before they just became a cell phone reseller…) burns out and I now have to replace the entire control board assembly? Further, I have to pay someone $160 to spend 5 minutes disconnecting and re-attaching some wiring harnesses? I have never in my entire adult life heard of something more ridiculous, although that didn’t occur to me as much at the time as it does now.

Well, in the end, Angela and I decided that at worst we could just purchase the new version of our old washer for only a bit more than the $460 repair bill. We paid the repairman his $59 service fee and he gave us a $65 coupon toward a new washer at Sears, which didn’t seem like too bad of a deal.

The Solution

Still, it really kept bugging me that it was such a common, cheap thing that was damaged and that was going to cost me so much money to fix or replace. Why can’t I just replace the resistor with a component part I buy myself at the local electronics supply store? I figured that my friend Jason Johnson (someone I consider to be quite handy with fixing things) could help me diagnose the problem better when he visited the following weekend.

We didn’t get much of a chance to look at it during Jason and Stacie’s visit (there are things in this world more fun that fixing a washer, you know) until the morning they had to leave. We quickly determined that the resistor was so badly burned up that we wouldn’t be able to read it’s component color code value. In a last ditch effort, Jason suggested we look online for a control board diagram since the wiring schematic in the washer didn’t detail the control board at all. Well, a search for Maytag Neptune R11 returned some very surprising results. As it turns out, this isn’t an isolated problem and it has nothing to do with lightening or power surges. Rather, it is a direct result of Maytag using shoddy parts for it’s door locking mechanism which, in turn, result in damage to the control board.

What’s more, fixing it is something that Maytag knows a great deal about, as they had a very large class-action settlement against them on this very failure. Of course, the failure had to occur prior to 2006 for them to do anything about. Just the same, we were able to find someone who advocates just repairing the problem yourself.

Well, this past weekend, that is exactly what I and my brother Stephen did. Our washer now works just like new. Further, I believe that the root cause of the problem (the door lock motor, commonly called the wax motor) has been corrected so it won’t happen again. This apparently is something that the repairman we had visit wasn’t going to fix for that rather large quoted price. Of course, why should I expect anything like that from someone who either doesn’t know or wasn’t willing to tell me the actual cause of the problem?

Stephen works at getting the leads to the Q6 soldered onto the control board.

The Big Complaint

So, to anyone who owns a Maytag Neptune washer which will not spin your clothes dry or the door lock light no longer comes on, warm up your soldering irons. The repair is as simple and straightforward as you could hope for. Set aside about an hour and get another person to help you out (not that it’s hard, just that a second pair of eyes and hands to get off the washer door is a good idea). I ordered my parts from Neptune Wax Motor.com. The owner (?) of that site, Jeff, has some great instructions as well as links to some videos of how to disassemble the washer and make the repairs. He seems like a very helpful and honest person and I’d highly recommend buying the parts (approx. $35 for the entire kit, including shipping) from him. He even has some suggestions if you don’t want to solder the components yourself.

The old, damaged parts. The wax-motor with the brown actuator is the problem. The damaged resistor and triac are the result.

Lastly, I think that Maytag/Sears should be ashamed of themselves for ripping off customers like this. I’ve read several defenses of the service technicians online and they all seem rather weak to me. Maytag’s ads for decades have been about ‘Ol Lonely, who’s got nothing to do because Maytag is so dependable. However, when something really is going wrong, people have to sue due to faulty design. Worse, even for those who didn’t (like us), the repairmen just take the easy (and extremely expensive) way out rather than actually fixing the appliance. Taking an hour to do it right and charging (what I figure) around $150-$200 is much better than taking 15-minutes and charging 2-3 times that much is the only right thing to do. I don’t solely blame the technicians, although I do believe they have a certain amount of discretion in the method of repairs they make. It’s bad business and, as a result, Angela and I have come to the decision that neither Maytag nor Sears are going to be another penny out of us (and, yes, we have done quite a bit of business with them). If they had at least been open and honest about the issue, that may have been different. However, they treated us like a bank account to just take money out off.

Here’s a parts list:

• R11 resistor (3.9k Ohm, 1/4 Watt or better, 5% carbon film) - about 20¢
• Q6 (NTE5657) - $3.63 at Wholesale Electronics
• Whirlpool wax motor with black actuator - $13.72 at PartStap.com

Some additional links:

• Maytag Problems
• ApplianceJunk.com forums on this topic
• Video of soldering the R11 and Q6 (via Neptune Wax Motor)

Well, it’s been two weeks since I last did this, so I should have plenty of fun things, right? I’ve been soon busy with work and house stuff, I’m not sure…

1. Watching “Waiting for Godot.” After being publicly shamed, I figured I’d better see what all the fuss is about. I tried to watch a taped version of the play on Google Video, but it was really poor quality (in all the ways it can be). However, the “
   Beckett on Film” version I rented from Netflix was very enjoyable. I found myself actually laughing allowed at some of the very dry humor (at least it was dry in this interpretation).
2. Big budget, summer blockbuster movies. Pirates 3 didn’t make any sense plot-wise, but was fun. It seems like everybody’s favorite part was the surrealist Davy-Jones’ Locker scene. A lot of that comes from Johnny Depp’s charm in the films but director Gore Verbinski deserves a lot of credit for putting a very odd scene in a blockbuster film. Here’s hoping Transformers is equally entertaining.
3. Angela and I finished up watching "Freaks And Geeks," the short-lived 1999 television show by Paul Feig and Judd Apatow. The show’s 18 episodes are consistently good both in writing and acting. We just got the first disc of Apatow’s follow-up show "Undeclared" and are looking forward to seeing Knocked Up soon.
4. Speaking of television, I’ve been watching some episodes of ABC’s "Notes From the Underbelly" at their website. Apparently loosely based on a novel of the same name, the pilot episode was terrific and subsequent episodes have been fairly good, although not great. The humor hits home, though, as it does it’s best when making fun of neurotic first-time parents-to-be like Angela and I. Surprisingly (mainly just because I like it), the show will be back next season.
5. And finally, something not related to film or television, we’ve been really enjoying getting baby stuff together. We finished up most of the nursery for our little girl and on top of that, people have been sending us all sorts of cool baby stuff. We really appreciate all the kindness and help (keep it coming, good people!). It’d be silly to say I was enjoying that a lot. We’re having our first baby shower tomorrow and it should be a hoot.

One of our favorite games to play while watching movies or television is to try and name the actors in supporting roles, or at least where we might have seen them before.

Inevitably, every person that I say "I’ve seen them in something before," Angela will reply "they were on Herman’s Head. Herman’s Head was an early show on Fox (way back in 1991) in which Herman, a young professional, had four people in his brain that represented various base human emotions who would argue about all his decisions. Herman meets a girl and Lust and Sensitivity go at each other’s throats. When Herman has to be creative for a work project, Anxiety and Intellect duke it out. Well, other than Hank Azaria, most of the actors on the show have let a life of guest appearances on ER and Law & Order as well as minor supporting roles in films. That, and fullfilling Angela’s theory of Six Degree’s of Herman.